Pineapple Upside Down Cake Using Pamela's Baking Mix

[DebS]

This is a recipe I got off of Allrecipes.com. All I did was substitute the flour, baking powder and salt called for in the recipe with Pamela's Baking Mix. It turned out fantastic.

6 tablespoons butter, melted

3/4 cup brown sugar

6-8 slices of canned pineapple, depending on how you arrange them in the pan

Mix the melted butter and the brown sugar in an 8 inch square cake pan. Arrange the pineapple slices on top of the brown sugar mixture in the pan. Can also add half of a marachino cherry to the center of each pineapple slice if desired.

3 eggs, separated

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup Pamela's Baking Mix

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon almond extract

In large bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar to the egg whites, beating continuously until stiff peaks form.

In another bowl, beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored. Add the baking mix, milk, melted butter and almond extract. Mix until well blended.

Fold the egg whites into the flour mixture, mixing just until blended. Spread evenly in pan and bake in 325 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes and invert onto serving plate. Serve with whipped cream and enjoy!

[wolfie]

YUM!!! Thanks for sharing!

[larry mac]

Deb,

I too am glad you posted this. Hadn't thought about it until now, but this somehow turned into my signature cake. My two daughters always request it for their birthdays and special occasions. Of course I just used the recipe on a box of pineapple cake mix. I prefer pineapple tidbits instead of rings though, much easier to cut and you can control your pineapple/cherries distribution better.

Also, having practically every flour/starch/gluten-free ingredient under the sun, think I'll make my own baking mix.

thanks again, lm

[DebbieInCanada]

  larry mac said:

...

Also, having practically every flour/starch/gluten-free ingredient under the sun, think I'll make my own baking mix.

...

Larry,

Which blends do you find best for converting regular cake/cookies? Have you experimented with many different ones? When I first started converting regular recipes (back in the stone ages of gluten-free products ) I tried pure rice flour, since that was about all I had. WAY to dry and crumbly - not my finest baking moments . So I certainly learned that you need some blend of flours, since each one brings a different quality. I find tapioca is good as a starch, and find that it really reduces and strong taste from other flours in the blend - for example I use soy flour, and the soy doesn't leave a strong taste in the finished product if I use equal parts of tapioca starch.

Also - when you convert, what measurement of flour do you use? I find that using the same measurement of gluten-free mix often gives me soggy results, so I increase by about 25%.

Always wondering what tricks that others have found for converting regular recipes.

Debbie

[larry mac]

  DebbieInCanada said:

Which blends do you find best for converting regular cake/cookies? Have you experimented with many different ones? ....

Also - when you convert, what measurement of flour do you use? I find that using the same measurement of gluten-free mix often gives me soggy results, so I increase by about 25%.

d,

I'm sorry to say I haven't done nearly as much variety baking as I should have. Have not made a single cake or pie. The first flour blend recipe I saw called for an equal ratio of flours to starches, and that's pretty much what I've stuck with. However, I do use quite a variety of ingredients.

I'm very satisfied with my muffins. I think I've got that part down good. I'm not intolerant to anything else (that I know of) and am trying to gain some weight back, so they have a lot things such as whole milk, buttermilk, eggs, butter, white sugar, brown sugar, oil, sourdough starter, sour cream, egg white powder, pecans, walnuts, bananas, flax seed meal, and anything else I think of to add to them.

I tried chocolate chip w/nuts cookies one week. Started out disastrously, ended up pretty good actually. As with everything gluten-free I make, I find major adjustments are often required to the amount of flour or liquid needed. Usually you discover after mixing the wet & dry ingredients together that it's either too wet or too dry. With the cookies (using a converted regular recipe, actually a hybrid I made up), I needed to add a lot more flour blend (just like you said). Now, if I had more time to experiment (or were a little - ok a lot - smarter), I could probably figure out if it required more of just flour, more of just starch, more of a blend - which is what I did - well you get the point.

One thing unique to this baking that I suspect may be throwing a monkey wrench variable in here is the xanthan gum/ guar gum ingredient. What you use, how much you use, and how it interacts with the other ingredients your using may be making things more difficult.

Pancakes. I'm not completely happy yet, but my wife is. 'Course she'll eat anything I cook and is not nearly as critical as I am. They're pretty darn good though.

Bread/buns is my major buggaboo. It's not only hit & miss, but even when it's good initially, it just doesn't store well. We've thrown about a lot of ideas here lately. If I just did a fraction of actual baking as I do talking, maybe I would't have so much complaining to do.

Here's my typical blend:

2 C white rice

2 C brown rice

2 C sourgum

1 C bean

3 C tapioka

3 C potato

1 C corn

Then, when a typical recipe calls for 2 C flour blend, I'll usually throw in maybe

[DebbieInCanada]

  larry mac said:

d,

...

Here's my typical blend:

2 C white rice

2 C brown rice

2 C sourgum

1 C bean

3 C tapioka

3 C potato

1 C corn

Then, when a typical recipe calls for 2 C flour blend, I'll usually throw in maybe

[larry mac]

  DebbieInCanada said:

Wow, you mix a lot of ingredients into your flour blend. For most things, I use a ratio of 1/3 soy flour, 1/3 white rice and 1/3 tapioca starch.

When it comes to ingredients, I'm a madman. My general cooking philosophy is, more ingredients add flavors, create complex layers, yet average out mistakes.

  DebbieInCanada said:

Another thing I've found is that these alternate flours are strange to measure. Depending on how much you pack it in, a cup of tapioca starch can have quite a variation. I bought a digital kitchen scale, and measure all my flours by weight. I think it really improves the consistency of my results (as in, I get the same results each time).

You got that right deb, starches are strange. I just fluff up the starch with a spoon, gently shake it into a measuring cup, and level with a knife. The stuff sticks to everything, why I'll bet you could use it for glue! Some sift, but I just can't do it. It's major effort & big mess. I go to great lengths already & just don't have enough for that too. Same goes for my digital scale, I mainly use it for figuring out postage.

best regards, lm