This warm, pineapple upside down cake was begging for a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I really thought I had some left in the freezer, but my kid (who is taller every morning than he was the night before) beat me to it.
Even so, this dessert was delish! Simple ingredients of pineapple, butter, brown sugar and cake mix created a cobbler-like dessert that tastes just like traditional pineapple upside down cake.
Do you like your pineapple upside down cake warm or room temp?
I prefer mine to be room temperature. The leftovers were perfect to me the next day. But other members of my family prefer theirs to be warm. They loved it straight out of the slow cooker and heated up their leftovers in the microwave the next day.
Either way, this is a very easy dessert to make.
Here’s what you’ll need:
This dessert bakes up into more of a cobbler-like consistency, rather than the texture of a cake baked in the oven. The center of the cake will still be soft, even though the edges are brown.
Pineapple Upside Down Cake in the Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup melted butter divided
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 20 oz pineapple crushed or tidbit, drained and juice reserved
- 1 white or yellow cake mix
Instructions
- Stir together 1/4 cup of butter (half of the amount listed), brown sugar and drained pineapple.
- Spread this on bottom of slow cooker.
- Stir the dry cake mix, remaining 1/4 melted butter and pineapple juice in a large bowl.
- Pour cake batter over top of pineapple in slow cooker.
- Bake on high for 2-3 hours or low for 3-4 hours.
This will be happening in my slow cooker Sunday morning for my small group dessert! Bring on the pinneapple!
Wow this is great! Thanks.
For a shorter-than-9-hours cooking time I usually use a ‘lamp timer’ and delay the start of my cooker. Then I can assemble it all the night before and refrigerate the crock liner, then drop it in the cooker on delay at 6 in the morning and it can start later, after a few hours’ countertop time.
This has worked really well for main dishes and side dishes. But have you ever tried stirring the wet-and-dry ingredients together for this recipe and let them sit for several hours before baking? I’m wondering if it will still rise like a cake, or if I’ll end up with a sweet sticky hockey puck.
Anyway, I suppose the only thing to do is try. I will report back the results. But if you have tried it on “tape delay” like this please let me know. Thanks again!
WONDERFUL!!! I made this as a surprise for our “snow plow crew” ~ after they moved 15″ of heavy wet snow from our driveways. They loved it HOT. It is perfect. Not too sweet + Soft and yet, full of texture. = perfection! Thank you for sharing this with us.
Brenda, I’m glad it was a hit. And here’s to spring coming and an end to all the snow!
I made this last night, and it was my first “cake in a crock pot”. I used a 5 qt oval crock pot. I set it on high while I prepared my ingredients. I used a 20 oz can of crushed pineapple, which yielded about 1 cup of juice. Then I let it go for 3 hours on high. While some of my pineapple did burn around the edges, all in all, it was a success. It did not “brown” on the top like an oven cake, so maybe 3 hours was a shade too long… I think watching for it to pull away from the edges might be the best clue to doneness….
Thanks for sharing how it worked for you. Great tips!
Hi Tiffany-
Do you think I could use rhubarb from my garden for this dish? I have a bunch and don’t know what to do with it. Thanks-Tom
Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve never cooked with rhubarb. Here’s a link to a strawberry cobbler in the slow cooker. That would probably work to add rhubarb to it.
How many does this serve?? Doing a pot luck at work and not sure if 1 will be enough..but anyone try doubling the recipe??
Sara, this will serve about 8 people. I’ve never tried doubling. I think that would work though.
I am soooo making this soon!
Has anyone had success with making this with a homemade cake batter?
Liz, I’m not sure that it would work well with homemade batter, just because you only use the dry mix. I’d love to hear if anyone has tried homemade though. Let us know how it turns out if you give it a try!
I just made this cake, it’s unbelievable! Oh my goodness! Pineapple is my fav fruit and this is a great, easy dessert. I did cook on low and it was done in 2 1/2hrs. The cake is so fluffy! Thanks! Love your site! ★★★★
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing!
When you make this, is the cake+juice+butter mixture supposed to be incredibly thick and pasty before you add it? i had a really hard time trying to spread it over the pineapple. It’s cooking now – hope it turns out!
Katie, yes it’s pretty thick.
Made this today at 1:45pm & slow cooked it on low. I turned it from low to warm around 4:45 & we just ate it at 6:15pm. It was really good hot & as mentioned, it scoops out like a cobbler from crockpot to bowl. For me it was a little too sweet (but good) but that helped me to stick to a smaller portion. My husband has a sweet tooth & said it was just right. I would highly recommend this recipe for those wintry days when a warm dessert would hit the spot. Made the house smell delish all afternoon long. Would be great for RVs & college dorms due to the ease of the recipe & the fact it can be left unattended for a while. Not to mention it’s one pot, easy clean up & it doesn’t heat up the kitchen. Whether just learning to cook or for pros just looking for a a quick sweet fix, this is a great recipe.
Can you use frozen pineapple and if so how much liquid would you recommend using in the batter
I’m not sure how frozen pineapple would work. For this, I think I’d stick with canned.
I just made another recipe of this in the crock pot and it’s burnt. I had to leave it on longer because the center was wet when I stuck toothpick in. The difference is the other recipe had you make the cake mix as directed (except for using juice from can). This was the 2nd one I through out (the first was chocolate). Am I doing something wrong when it’s always so wet in the middle and then burns when I leave it longer so it won’t be raw in center?
Sorry for the trouble with the recipe. It will still be soft in the middle. It won’t be cooked through like when you’re making it in the oven. It’s more of a cobbler texture.
I tried it and it came out so good..thank u for sharing