Pineapple Upside Down Cake: Backpack Baking

We are so fortunate to be able to live in one of the world’s most beautiful areas…the Rocky Mountains.  They are within minutes of our door step and we have an amazing amount of hiking, and camping close by.  Every year, I request that we make our yearly treck into a place called Fish Lake, which is located in the Top of the World Provincial park.  It is about an hour drive from our home on the highway, and approximately another 45-60 minutes on a bush road.   We have headed into Fish Lake during all seasons, but my favourite is always summertime.  The lake at the top is stunningly clear and the hike in is warm and casual.   It’s just over 6 kilometers in, and has a relatively small elevation gain . . .  which of course is lovely when you’re carrying a 50 lb pack on your back! 

Being that this is my absolute favourite place to backpack into, camp and enjoy the cell-phone free zone, the only thing I could imagine making it better is warm, fresh cake!  I’ve always wanted to make a Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and I finally had the chance to do so in this trip.  I thought it was perfect treat to be able to bake in the backpack oven.  The colours from the pineapple and the cherries stood out beautifully against the stunning scenery. 

Our friend Kelli joined us on this trip.  She’s an avid hiker and camper, so we knew she’d be a great one to have along to enjoy the hike and scenery.  Unfortunately once we got to camp, she had some problems with her allergies, so we didn’t get to see much of her.  Or maybe she was just sick of us and was so happy to be rid of us!  Just kidding Kelli!  We knew she was in rough shape for a bit, but she powered through and was ready to bake by morning! 

Paul’s been experimenting with some more of the camera work on our recent trips and videos, and I think he’s doing such an amazing job.  In this one, he’s using the GoPro Black for the hiking scenes, and the time lapses.  He still was using the DSLR for the baking footage.  I love that he is so talented . . . definitely works in my favour 🙂

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons (30 grams) butter

• ¼ cup (45 grams) brown sugar

• 5 pineapple rings

• ¾  cup (90 grams) all purpose flour

• 1 ¼ teaspoon (6.25 grams)  baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon (1.25 grams) salt

• ½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

• 2 tablespoons (30 grams) butter

• ½ cup (125 milliliters) milk

• 1 large (52 grams) egg

• maraschino cherries (optional)

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F/180˚C.  Grease one 8 inch/20 centimeter cake pan.  

2. Melt the butter in the baking pan or in separate bowl.  Add the brown sugar to the butter and stir until combined.  Cover bottom of the cake pan with the butter mixture.   

3. Place pineapple rings on top of butter mixture.  Set aside.    

4. In a small sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and whisk to combine.   

5. In a medium sized bowl, cream butter and sugar together.  Add milk and egg and continue to cream until smooth.

6. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, and mix until combined.   

7. Pour cake batter on top of the pineapple base.  

8. Bake in preheated oven for about 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

9. Allow to cool briefly before flipping cake over onto a plate.  Place maraschino cherries into the center of the pineapple rings.

10. Slice and serve as desired.

11. This cake can be kept refrigerated in a sealed container for 2-3 days.

If baking at home, use an 8″ cake pan and bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes.
Turn upside down immediately upon removal from oven and all to sit for a couple of minutes before removing pan.  

The campground we visited is called Fish Lake, and is located in Top of the World Provincial Park,  British Columbia, Canada. More information can be found here. 

You can learn more about the backpack baking gear we used in this video here. 

The way out was rainy!!  Oh so wet.