Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Evening everyone! So here's my latest foray into the cooking bit. I decided to go a bit more complicated this week. I was discussing my blog with my good friends mom (wonderful woman, just sayin') whom I love to death. I was having a hard time deciding what to cook next. Since Ive been cooking these and not getting to eat much of my own creations (my step-father loves everything I've made so far, and has cleared it out whenever I bring it by on my weekend visits to my parents home from college.). Dannielle, sweetheart that she is, suggested my mothers favorite 'Pineapple Upside Down Cake'.

Let me tell yah, harder than it looks. There's a lack of pictures in this one, cause I wasn't cooking in my apartments kitchen (where everything is organized according to my will) so I got a little side tracked with gathering everything...and i forgot to charge my phone to take photos.

Let me just start off by saying this. You really want to have a timer on hand for this one, and a hand mixer. a wisk you can probably get away with doing, but you'll want to hold off on the pre-heating. Second, make sure you have everything you need out and ready. I had to run down to my grandmothers (at 2AM no less) to get another two eggs.

anyway, ONWARD!

Pineapple upside-down cake

Ingredients

Topping:*
1 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 can (20 oz) of pineapple slices

Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
6 Tbsp cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups of sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
4 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream

Directions

1 Start by making the caramel topping. Take brown sugar and butter and combine and melt in a saucepan on medium heat until sugar dissolves and the mixture is bubbly, this should take several minutes. (After sugar melts, don't stir.) Pour mixture into a 10 inch diameter stick-free cake pan with 2 inch high sides. Arrange pineapple slices in a single layer ontop of the caramel mixture.

2 Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Whisk the flours, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the sugar and butter together until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream in 2 additions each, beating well after each addition. Pour cake batter over caramel and pineapple in pan.

3 Bake cake until tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Just a few more tips for this one. Make sure you've really made your caramel. My cake turned out great, nice and moist, but I didn't quite get the caramel topping right, i needed to have it at a high enough temp long enough, so it didnt set well.
Also, make sure you let this COOL a little while before you flip it. I went from pan to plate immediately, forgetting the cool stage, and had a little ripping occur round the edges, but it was warm enough to reform.
Good luck Cooking!
Morgan~

Cheese cake with Graham Cracker Crust

So here's the cheesecake i was cooking along with the shortbread thumbprints. I had alot of fun with this, but i still think it needs a little work on my part to get it just right. as forewarning once again, try not to multitask too much. you really need to watch this to prevent the cracking (whic

h you will see in my final photo), and alot of the accidents you can avoid. My springform started to leak and make the oven smoke, so my cheese cake was cooked unevenly and cracked because i had to take it out mid-cooking to prevent fire. I would suggest wrapping tin foil around the base, just to be safe.

Onward!

Cheese cake with Graham Cracker Crust

Graham Cracker Crust

What You Need:

• 6 tbsp butter, melted
• 24 graham crackers
• 1/4 cup sugar

1. In a small saucepan or the microwave, melt 6 tablespoons of butter.
2. Place about 24 graham crackers in a plastic bag. Roll with a rolling pin until finely crushed. This may be done in small batches.
3. Measure 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs into a medium bowl.
4. Add 1/4 cup of sugar to the graham crackers.
5. Add the melted butter.
6. Stir or blend together with your hands
7. Press into the pie plate or other pan.
8. To pre-bake the pie crust, bake for 8 to 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F. oven.

Tips:

1. Add a little cinnamon, nutmeg, or allspice to the crumbs for a spiced flavor.

Classic Cheesecake

4 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

4 eggs

HEAT oven to 325°F.

BEAT cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.

BAKE 55 min. or until center is almost set. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Dont try to remove the spring form outer edge too soon or it will harm the cheesecake. let it cool a little bit on the counter, then put it in the fridge to let it chill. Leaving it in overnight is probably for the best. Also, really, don't try to mix this by hand, i tried, and failed miserably. use a fork, if you dont have a hand or standing mixer, and go slowly. As you can see from my picture, i added all the eggs at once, that was a reading error on my part, so try to read all of this slowly and get everything in where its supposto be.
Have fun!
Morgan~