This Classic Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Recipe Is So Easy To Make

After the hectic holidays, you may be looking to spend a little less time cooking and a little more time enjoying the New Year. But that doesn’t mean you’ll want to miss out on delicious treats! That’s where this recipe comes in. Classic pineapple upside-down cake is easy to make and super yummy, so it’s exactly what you’re looking for in terms of minimal effort and big results.

The recipe from Betty Crocker will prove just how simple making dessert can be. It calls for butter, brown sugar, pineapple slices, maraschino cherries and one box of Betty Crocker’s yellow cake mix.

As for the steps for assembly, all you have to do is melt butter in the bottom of a baking dish and let the layering begin. Sprinkle brown sugar over the butter, then arrange pineapple slices atop the butter and brown sugar (along the bottom of the baking dish), and place a maraschino cherry in the center of each slice. Then, add the cake batter. And viola!

Bake for about 45 minutes, then flip the baking dish onto a heat-resistant serving dish. Let the cake cool without removing the baking dish. After about 30 minutes, lift the baking dish to reveal the layers of sugary pineapple and moist cake.

Not only will your dessert taste amazing, but you’ll get bonus points for display since the end product will look a little something like this:

If you happen to have a bit of extra time on your hands, you can take this easy recipe up a notch by adding a few extra layers — which is what blogger Vera does at Oh My Goodness Chocolate Desserts. By repeating the steps to create three layers of upside-down cake, and then creating a frosting to go between each layer of cake, you can create a three-tier cake with relatively little effort on your end.

Her recipe for pineapple upside-down cake also walks you through making your own cake from scratch before detailing the assembly process. (But if you stick with the Betty Crocker cake mix instead, no one would blame you.) You’ll wind up with this decadent dessert:

Should you happen to want all of the flavor of pineapple upside-down cake, but with a cheesecake texture, you can also whip up these pineapple cheesecake bars pretty easily, thanks to the recipe from Pillsbury.

You’ll use Pillsbury Crescent dough for the crust, so the only part you’ll have to make is the cream cheese-filled center and the brown-sugar glaze. Yum.

With desserts like these, baking never has to be difficult or time-consuming again!