Vegan Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Pineapple cake is one the most classic, old-fashioned recipe ever. You know how much I love baking vegan cakes like my Vegan Birthday Cake, Vegan Funfetti Cake, or Vegan German Cake so I couldn’t resist creating a vegan version of this old-time childhood favorite. But ready for tropical flavor and comfort food to the top with this moist, buttery cake with crispy sides covered with vegan caramel.

Ingredients and Substitutions

To make this cake, you have to first do the base layer before making the top, crumbly dough. All you need are:

Vegan butter or vegan margarine – bring to room temperature for 30 minutes to soften the plant-based butter before using it in the recipe. Canned pineapple slices in their juice. Don’t discard the juice as it’s used for the batter. Light brown sugar or sugar but avoid high moisture sugar like soft brown sugar, as it can make the cake too soggy at the bottom. Glacé Cherries – Classic candied cherries or maraschino cherries.

Batter

For the pineapple cake, nothing is easier. You need just a few more staple ingredients.

All-Purpose Flour – You can also use spelt flour. I haven’t tried gluten-free flour. Baking Soda – for a little rise. Sugar – or coconut sugar. Pineapple Juice from the can used before. Almond Milk or soy milk, or any non-dairy milk you like, including oat milk. Canola Oil or melted vegan butter if you don’t have canola oil. You can use another vegetable oil, but some oils, like olive oil, can add a strong taste, so I prefer to use a neutral oil. Vanilla Extract – for flavor.

How To Make Vegan Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

It’s so easy to make this dairy-free vegan pineapple cake at home that even your kids can make it, and mine make it with me. Let’s start with the bottom layer of the cake. A pineapple upside-down cake is covered on top with pineapple rings, glace cherries, and caramel. Some recipes prepare caramel in a saucepan and cover the bottom of the pan with it. I have another easier method. Let me share this with you.

Making The Vegan Pineapple Cake Batter

Serving

Serve the pineapple cake after 3 hours of cooling, on its own or with some of the below toppings:

Vegan Coconut Frosting Vegan Whipped Cream Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream Avocado Ice Cream Powder Sugar

Storage Instructions

This pineapple cake must be refrigerated and lasts up to 3 days in an airtight cake box in the fridge. Otherwise, freeze the pineapple cake slices or the entire cake in a sealed box and thaw in the fridge the day before.

Allergy Swaps

Below are some food allergy swaps options for you if needed.

Gluten-Free – The cake batter should work perfectly with a 1:1 all-purpose gluten-free flour containing xanthan gum. Use the same measurement of flour to replace the wheat flour. Sugar-Free – Pineapple has sugar, so you can’t totally avoid sugar in a pineapple cake. However, you can use sugar-free natural granulated sweetener to sweeten the caramel and batter, including xylitol, erythritol, or allulose.