Vegan Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (Dispatches from The Sewing Room And The Year-long Quilt: Finally!)

I'm dining solo this week so that called for baking a pineapple upside down cake. The quintessential cake. There had to be some major cake brilliance going on when this cake was conceived. Will I eat the entire cake myself? Yes. Probably. But not in one sitting for goodness sakes!

This cake must remain on the reserve list owing to hubby's intolerance of the pineapple. Something about an allergy was mentioned. I try to be respectful. It's not like he breaks out into hives at the very sight of the fruit, but he does keep his distance. Clearly some serious genetic foul-up occurred. That'd be like me having an allergy to chocolate. I'd demand a do-over.

Isn't she lovely! A year or so ago, I enrolled in a quilt class. We cut some strips of fabric and made something out of them that now sits in my living room and covers my legs every single night (when I'm not on fire, that is). I so loved making that quilt, that I quickly made another and now am in the process of nearly finishing this one, my third. But let me say, this one has been a labor of love. I like to take the shortest way out when it comes to making anything. Yes, frustration, on occassion, has resulted (and the need for a nap, perhaps a xanax as well). But this quilt-as-you-go project beckoned me when I first heard of the technique for making quilts. The first few "quilt tops" I made were, in my opinion, a bit "tedious". So I was not all for the multi-step process of making the quilt top, THEN, geting the middle part and THEN back fabric, THEN tacking it on, THEN re-sewing the whole thing and there you have it! So I found this adorable sewing site where a sewer had fashioned together a quilt-as-you-go tutorial. I LOVED it! I knew immediately this would be the method I'd incorporate for constructing the next quilt. I built a quilt wall or working wall whereby all of my put-together squares were hanging. I loved looking at them. Didn't always love sewing them, because truthfully, each square took me about two hours (give or take, depending upon what they had on the Food Network).

I have selected to use a dark brown print fabric as my backing and as an accent strip. I am now in the process of sewing or "quilting" the entire thing over once more (see the light cream thread) with my sewing machine. Note: This is a task for those who can stand to cram a queen-sized piece of fabric into the space of a napkin holder! I am only able to work on this in half hour increments or I become . . . unpleasant to be around. I am very pleased with how this has turned out. Very. 

My next project I am working on is a surprise and for someone special. But since a new JoAnn Fabric store opened way-too-close to where I live, I am now completely fabric-addicted! It took me two hours to pick this trio out for my new project. I am sure the folks in the Hidden Camera So We Can Watch Our Customers room were delighted to see me finally head over to the register.

The beginnings of the next quilt project. This time, I took a class called, "Stack-n-Whack" last month. I wanted something that sounded quick! Well, nothing in quilting is that fast--it just isn't. No matter what you see on the cover of glossy, screaming-for-you-to-make quilting magazines. The whole industry preys on the female desire to conquer, I swear. Just step away from that magazine and head on over to your local quilt store and get the real skinny on quilting. I digress. This is my next project. Don't think I'll be finished with this one for maybe another year--but just in case you were interested. The process used in making a quilt like this is pretty brilliant. It is more of a matchy-matchy quilt than what I'd normally like. I expect to deviate at some point. But not sure where yet.

Back to cake. This vegan pineapple upside-down cake IS delish! It has all the makings of what a good old, like-grandma-used-to-make cake had. (Grandma made these a lot because she always had those yummy cherries in the red food coloring for her evening cocktails!) Yum! You need two cans of those pineapple rings. Or, better yet, if your knife skills are good enough and you can cut a perfect circle shaped pineapple up like these, use a fresh one. Just be sure to drain the rings on paper towels or your cake will be a hot mess. 

Vegan Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

*Adapted from Betty Crocker 

**Makes one 9" square cake 

1/4 cup unsalted vegetable margerine

2/3 cup brown sugar (or a bit less if you'd like)

2 cans of pineapple rings, or a fresh pineapple cut likewise

jar of maraschino cherries (stems off)

1 1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup Florida Crystals sugar

1/3 cup vegetable shortening (5 tablespoons)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk or other nut milk (at room temperature)

1 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 2 tablepsoons of water (equiv. of 1 egg)

Preheat oven to 350. If using canned pineapple, drain these now. Dry out about ten cherries as well. Set these aside. (If you decide to use fresh pineapple, that's fine, just be sure to drain it well.) Take the margerine and place it in a 9" square (or round would work, too) pan. Place the pan with the margerine in the oven for about 3-5minutes--till the margerine has melted. Remove pan from oven. Take the brown sugar and sprinkle it over the melted margerine. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. Take the drained pineapples and cherries and arrange them over the melted margerine in the cake pan. Place the cherries in any space that is open. Or not. Your call. (I love them and could not imagine an upside-side down cake without them. What's the point?!) In another bowl, cream together the vegetable margerine and sugar until it is light and fluffy--about two minutes. Next, add the egg replacer to this, then the vanilla extract. Blend about 30 seconds. Next, add half a cup of the milk and blend for a few seconds to incorporate. Add a third of the flour mixture, blend until incorporated and repeat this step until the last bit of flour has been added. Mix together on medium speed for another two minutes. Pour batter over the pineapple and cherries. Spread it out evenly. Bake for 45-50 minutes. You want the edges of the cake to bake up a bit brown (because that will help caramelize the sugar on the bottom). A little over done with this cake is better than a little under done. Remove cake from oven. Allow to cool only a minute or so. Very carefully and with oven mits, turn the cake out onto a serving plate. Allow to cool completely before serving. I kept my cake on the counter in my cake keeper over night. This cake is best eaten within a day of making.