Pineapple upside down cake

Sous Chef J has been wanting to try making a Pineapple Upside Down Cake for ages.  Last week I bought a couple of fresh pineapples (one medium and the other HUGE sized).  So, when they had ripened and we were looking for inspiration on a chilly afternoon, he suggested the cake.  We searched for a suitable recipe to follow and came up with this slightly tweaked amalgam recipe -

For the topping -

50g softened butter
50g soft brown sugar
1 medium pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced (we reserved the juice from this undertaking for later use) - if you don't have fresh, then tinned pineapple rings in juice will be fine.

For the cake -
100g softened butter
100g golden caster sugar
100g self-raising flour (we used Dove's Farm gluten free SR Flour)
1 tsp baking powder (we used Dr Oetker gluten free)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs

We set the oven to 160C fan and prepared the topping.  To do this, we beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. The topping mix was then spread over the base and a quarter of the way up the sides of a 21cm round spring-form cake tin. 

The pineapple was prepared using an Oxo Good Grips pineapple
device... it was a two person job but we were pleased it worked well.  Next, Sous Chef J arranged 4 pineapple rings on top of the butter/sugar mix. 

Placing the butter and sugar in a bowl, we used an electric hand mixer to cream them together.  The eggs were add, one at a time, before including the flour and baking powder.  The mix came together nicely and looked creamy and light in colour.  We then mixed through about 2 Tablespoons of the reserved pineapple juice and made sure it was fully combined to a soft consistency. 

The cake mix was put into the tin on top of the pineapple and smoothed. 

We baked the cake, having placed the tin on a baking sheet (as the springform tin leaked - use a tin without a loose bottom if you have one!  We learnt from this for subsequent bakes) for 35 mins. 

Having left the cake to cool for 10 minutes, it was turned out onto a platter.

Sous Chef J has developed a liking for helping with "cook's reward" activities and is keen to assist with "checking the mix tastes OK".

We have also repeated this recipe making a square traybake cake (pics show both baking sessions) and Sous Chef J's "Singular Pineapple Upside Down Tarts" ....they were fab and are the header pic.