These Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes are a great brunch recipe and so easy to make! I modified a recipe by Grandbaby Cakes (one of my favorite food blogs) by putting the recipe in muffin cups & used crushed pineapples instead of the rings. I added 1/4 tsp of cinnamon to the batter as well. Fun, tasty & easy recipe! You can eat leftovers with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert or along with your coffee or afternoon tea.

Below is the modified recipe:

Makes about 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsps pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
3/4 cup light brown sugar
About 1 cup of crushed pineapples (either canned or fresh)
Maraschino cherries

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Liberally grease your muffin tin with vegetable oil or cooking spray.

For the cake batter: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, vanilla extract, eggs and pineapple juice until well mixed. Set aside.

Next melt butter over medium heat.
Once melted, whisk in brown sugar and cook for 1 minute.

Put one tablespoon of the brown sugar/butter mixture into each of the muffin cups.

Add about 2 teaspoons of crushed pineapple on top of the brown sugar mixture in each muffin cup. Be sure to spread the pineapple evenly.

Add a maraschino cherry if you so desire (I like to cut the cherries in half instead of using a full cherry. If you use half a cherry, be sure to place it upside down so that it looks nice when you flip the muffins)

Pour cake batter on top of the pineapples/cherry mix.

**Only fill the muffin cups 3/4 full so that it won’t create a “muffin top”. This will make it easier for them to release from the muffin tin after baking.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes then invert the muffins onto a cooling rack or serving plate and serve.

*Note – be careful when you are inverting the cupcakes – this can get a little bit messy as some of the cupcakes release faster than others.

Tip- before you invert the cupcakes, run a knife along the ring of each of the cupcakes to help them come out of the tins easier.

Enjoy!!