The classic Pineapple Upside Down Cake made over into a low carb, gluten-free treat. Keeping the pineapple to a minimum and using pineapple extract helps you get all the flavor with fewer carbs.
I have many of blogger friends who are pet-owners, and their pets seem to be perpetually photo-bombing their food photography. They will post a photo on Facebook or Instagram in which the curious and hungry nose of a dog or a cat will have made its way into the shot, inching toward the delectable food and ruining the picture. And possibly ruining the food, if the blogger isn’t fast enough to catch the creature. Up until a few weeks ago, I thought I was immune to this issue. My cat, a large energetic male named Gryffin, has heretofore steered clear of my food creations and my photography set ups. He is a curious little monkey and pokes his face into many places where it doesn’t belong, but he seemed to observe my photography shenanigans with disdain.
However, he decided to get curious about this Low Carb Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I am sure it wasn’t the cake that interested him at all, being the carnivorous animal that he is. But the big wooden board I use as a backdrop seemed to capture his attention. Unbeknownst to me, he climbed right up on the table (a no-no in any circumstance) and proceeded to lean up against it from behind, sending it crashing down into the cake that I had just set up. I hadn’t even taken a single photo. Thankfully, I did manage to catch the board before it fell all the way down, but one side of my cake was smashed to bits. And I had no time to make another, as it photos and recipe were due to my editor the next day. I had to patch it back together and fake it as best I could.
I had a few moments of wanting to give him away. But then I had a bite of the cake and it was so good, I forgot to be mad.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake – Low Carb and Gluten-Free
Ingredients
Topping:
- 3 tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup granular Swerve sweetener
- 2 teaspoon molasses
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup diced pineapple
Cake:
- 3 cups almond flour
- ⅓ cup vanilla whey protein powder optional but helps the cake rise properly
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup granular Swerve sweetner
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ¾ teaspoon pineapple extract optional, boosts pineapple flavor
- ¼ teaspoon liquid stevia extract
- ¾ cup unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F and grease a 9-inch springform pan well.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring butter, erythritol and molasses to a boil. Allow to boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and add cream and vanilla (mixture may bubble vigorously). Pour topping into pan and sprinkle evenly with diced pineapple.
- For the cake, combine almond flour, protein powder, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter with sweetener until well combined.
- Beat in eggs, pineapple extract, if using, and stevia extract.Add half of the almond flour mixture and beat until combined, then beat in almond milk. Beat in remaining almond flour mixture, scraping down beaters and sides of bowl as needed.
- Spread batter over topping in prepared pan, using a knife or an offset spatula to smooth the top.Bake 35 to 45 minutes, or until top is golden brown and just set to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes.
- Carefully run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan to loosen and then remove pan sides. Top cake with a serving platter and carefully flip both platter and cake. Run a sharp knife between the bottom of the springform pan and the cake topping, to loosen. Gently lift pan bottom.
Notes
Michelle says
Thank you very much for this recipe, Carolyn. It is outstanding. Full disclosure: I did not have my springform pan properly engaged and it leaked syrup into the oven. I quickly took it out and figured that was that. Then I got the idea to slide it all by hand into a ceramic pie plate. (thankfully, my counter was wiped already!). I did not expect any results. Not only was it beautiful but it was totally delicious! Haha.
Michelle Kane says
Please help, I made this cake and I followed all your instructions. The only thing that was different was that I didn’t have a spring tin so I used a glass pie dish. For the ingredients the only thing I changed was I used cows milk and I swapped one cup of Almond for Pecan nut flour. The reason being the almond flour is very expensive in South Africa. I also used coconut extract instead of pineapple because I didn’t have.
I struggled to get it out and so I put it in the refrigerator trying to cool the syrup, thinking it would go hard and then I could just unstuck it and flip it out… No such luck. The syrup stuck to the bottom so i thought, fine, I’ll just flip it when I serve it. But when I cut into it it crumbled and was mushy, not raw but not appealing at all.
I’ve now put it back in the oven to try to dry it out, maybe it will fix the texture?
I genuinely don’t know what I did wrong. Do you have any advice?
Sincerely
Carolyn says
Well, switching to a pie plate is a HUGE part of the issue. For one thing, glass bakes VERY differently than metal. For another, you really need the sides to be removable so you can get it out of the pan easily. So… that’s where you went wrong.
Barbara Ross says
Your description of the cat incident is hilarious, although I’m sure it wasn’t at the time. I bought the ingredients & will be making this today. I haven’t had pineapple upside down cake in a long, long time.
Loretta Chapman says
can I substitute Swerve brown sugar for the molasses?
Carolyn says
Sure.
Brenda says
How far in advance can I make this cake to be at its best? And do leftovers keep well at room temperature or should they be refrigerated? Or frozen? Thank you in advance!
Marla says
I made a full recipe of topping but then 1/2 a recipe of the cake and used my Pampered Chef Mini Bundt cake pan. I got 4 cakes from the 1/2 recipe which makes me so happy! I gave one to my sweet neighbor, will give one to Mom and Dad and I’ll keep the other 2 for me! I used Brown Sugar Swerve. They came out so beautiful and yummy!
Carolyn says
Great to hear!
Kathy Charest says
I have several pineapples ripening in my garden and craving pineapple upside down cake. I was about to create something using one of your Bundt cake recipes, I’m so glad to find this! Can’t wait to make it! ????
Sue says
Carolyn, this cake was wonderful! I made it as a ginger-pear upside down cake, using crystallized giner in the cake and sprinkled over the topping. Served it with ginger whipped cream. Heavenly! Thank you for yet another keeper!
TRIXIE says
I just made this as a special request for my daughters birthday. Pineapple Upside Down cake is her favorite. I don’t know what happened but I baked it for 55 minutes instead of the 35-45 minutes notes in the recipe. I baked until the top was “just set to the touch”. I let it sit for 10 minutes as well, but when I flipped it and removed the spring form pan, the cake fell apart because it was still raw in the middle. I am so disappointed. I can’t put it back in the pan and bake it longer, so I guess it will have to be thrown out. I was so looking forward to this treat.
Carolyn says
I am sorry to hear it. Something obviously went wrong so I have to ask a few questions. What sweetener did you use? What brand of almond flour? If it took that long to cook through, I suspect you used some ingredient different than mine.
Beth R. says
I do not have whey protein of any flavor, how necessary is this? I was going to make for a co-worker tonight for her birthday tomorrow. Thanks!
Carolyn says
Whey protein (or any protein powder) helps baked good rise and hold their shape. You can make it without but it won’t have as good texture.
Jeni says
What would the modifications be for nut allergies? Thanks!
Carolyn says
Not really sure there is one for this. You can try sunflower seed flour.
Sydney says
I made this today for my father’s birthday. It really brightened his world to have something he really wanted and still have it be low carb. This is not the first recipe I have tried from your site and will not be the last, so thank you for what you do. And thank you for giving my father a very happy birthday!
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it!
Kathy Charest says
I just love your recipes! 🙂 I made your jalapeno cheddar crackers the other day (only I made them rosemary cheddar, lol) and was in heaven!
In this recipe, can I use pea protein powder? Or is it the “whey” that helps with the rise?
Thanks so much!
Kathy
Carolyn says
Any protein will work.
Lisa says
Hi Carolyn, absolutely LOVE your blog, it’s made such a world of difference for me and I cannot thank you enough! I’m type 2 also and years ago I tried baking with Almond flour and everything i made was horrible. Completely ignorant of blanched Almond flour VS Almond meal and how to use it, nothing turned out. But now the wonderful world of food bloggers like you have changed all that. I’m off my Metformin and using diet and exercise, which is working well, but having to avoid sugar, which as you know is in everything, made life pretty miserable. So again, thank you so much!
I was also wondering if this could be made in a cast iron skillet? Pineapple upside down cake is one of the things my mother in law made all the time. It was loaded with brown sugar etc but it was one of my husband’s favorites, it has good childhood memories for him. And for some reason, for him, it needs to be done in a skillet, lol. Since they heat up much more than a regular pan I’m not sure how to adjust either the heat or time. Any tips you might suggest would be great. I even thought mini skillets since this looks delicate and could be difficult to remove without creating a disaster. Have a wonderful day. BTW I also live in the PNW, Bellevue, Wa, came up from CA 1 1/2 yrs. ago and love it.
Carolyn says
I can’t see why it couldn’t be baked in a skillet. I might add a little xanthan gum to make sure it holds together a little better (add 1/2 tsp to the dry ingredients), and grease that skillet well. Then make sure to loosen it well after baking before attempting to get it to flip out.
Patty Cosby says
What about the THM baking blend for this cake? How much would you put vs. the almond flour? Thanks.
Carolyn says
Well, I just made a cake with the baking blend which I will be sharing soon, so use 2 1/2 cups THM blend and then 1 to 1 1/2 cups almond milk (use your judgement depending on how dry or not the batter is).
Carolyn says
You probably want another egg as well.
Renee says
Could I use unflavored whey protein? Maybe add some vanilla extract? Thanks!
Carolyn says
Sure!
Michelle says
Hi.
I have made this cake twice and loved it both times. I wanted to make it for someone who is not on a low-carb diet, could I substitut sugar for the bulk sweetner, using the same quantity as the bulk and follow the recipe in every other way?
Carolyn says
Yes, I think that should work. I don’t use sugar at all anymore but it seems to me it wouldn’t change much about the recipe.
Tina says
This was delicious!! Mine took a lot longer to bake, I’m not sure why, but I’d think it was done, turn it out onto a plate- nope. Put it back, took it out, but in the end we loved it. I’m going to try it again in the future. I thought about turning the oven temp up a bit from 325*, but i didn’t want to burn the glaze.
Carolyn says
Hmmm, sounds like your oven runs a bit on the low side? Glad it turned out well, though.
Robin says
Thanks for all your fabulous recipes. How could I convert this recipe to muffins?
Carolyn says
The cake part is easy, just make it as is. Not quite sure how long it will bake for, but give it 15 minutes and check on them every few minutes after that. As for the topping, you will get it on the bottom of your cupcakes, but if you flip them out, I suppose that will be delicious!