Mini Piña Colada Upside-Down Cakes
The flavours of pineapple, coconut and rum along with a light, fluffy cake turn this popular tropical cocktail into a indulgent dessert!
Piña colada’s are one of my favourite sweet cocktails. There’s something about how the coconut milk interacts with the rum and pineapple juice that just reminds me of the tropics! Here is a simple recipe you can try at home that will help bring the warm weather to you.
Taking the usual pineapple upside-down cake recipe, I added some coconut to the mix. By using coconut milk it adds a bit more richness to the cake, and combined with the pineapple juice it gives a hint of flavour. I enjoyed the texture of this: the cake same out very soft and sponge-like, with just enough of a crumble.
Compared to other recipes which usually add melted butter to the ramekin, then sprinkle with brown sugar, I decided to melt them both on the stove-top to create a type of “caramel”, adding in the much needed rum to round things out. I also added a bit of cornstarch to the dry ingredients to help make the cake more tender.
If you wish to make this recipe alcohol-free, you can just substitute a tsp of vanilla for the tablespoon of rum required in the recipe (but trust me, it’s better with it).
Monique Creary
Yields 6 mini cakes
The flavours of pineapple, coconut and rum along with a light, fluffy cake turn this popular tropical cocktail into a indulgent dessert!
15 minPrep Time
25 minCook Time
40 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
1/2 cup [113g] unsalted butter (softened)
3/4 cup [150g] granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp rum
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup coconut milk
1.5 cups [200g] all-purpose flour
1 tbsp [8g] cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup [57g] unsalted butter
1/3 cup [75g] packed brown sugar
1 tbsp rum
pinch of salt
6 pineapple slices
25g Shredded coconut (1/4 cup)
6 maraschino cherries
Directions
- Preaheat oven to 350°F and generously spray a large 6 ramekins with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- For the batter: In a large bowl, mix together the butter and granulated sugar until properly blended. Add in the beaten eggs and rum until combined. Slowly stir in the pineapple juice and coconut milk.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until everything is incorporated. Set aside.
- For the topping: Melt butter in a small skillet over low heat. Add in brown sugar, rum and pinch of salt, stirring until dissolved (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat.
- Pour topping evenly into the prepared muffin cups. Then sprinkle flaked coconut into each of the 6 ramekins. Finally, arrange a pineapple slice in each cup on top of the mixture, and place a cherry in the centre of each ring.
- Divide cake batter evenly into the 6 tins, filling them 3/4 of the way up the sides.
- Place ramekins on a baking tray, and bake for 20-25 minutes until the tops are golden-brown.
- Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes. Gently run a knife around the edges of the ramekin, and invert onto a plate. Serve warm.
Notes
If you don't have ramekins (which are the perfect size for the pineapple slices), you can use a large muffin tray.
There's about 200mL of pineapple juice in a 398mL can of pineapples, and 8 slices. Reserve 1/3 cup of the juice for the recipe and feel free to eat the remaining slices!
Cornstarch is used in this recipe to help make the cake a little more tender (just as you would if you used cake flour instead of all-purpose). If you don't have it, you can omit it, though the result will be slightly different.
Make sure that your pineapple slices are blotted dry a with a paper towel. The excess pineapple juice will make your topping too runny and may interfere with the proper baking of the cake.
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