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 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup granular Swerve sweetener
- 2 tsp molasses
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup diced pineapple
Cake:
- 3 cups almond flour
- 1/3 cup vanilla whey protein powder, optional but helps the cake rise properly
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup granular Swerve sweetner
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 3/4 tsp pineapple extract, optional, boosts pineapple flavor
- 1/4 tsp liquid stevia extract
- 3/4 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
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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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.
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
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.
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.
can I substitute Swerve brown sugar for the molasses?
Sure.
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!
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!
Great to hear!
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! ????