Mini Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Donuts Recipe

Grab your mini donut pan, because this Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cake Donuts recipe is calling your name! Featuring golden pineapple, sweet maraschino cherries, and lots of inspiration from the nostalgic dessert we all love so much.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake is one of my most favorite cakes, and David’s too. Sadly, though, we could probably count on two hands how many times we’ve each had a piece.

As I was working on the recipe for this post, I thought about why we haven’t had Pineapple Upside-Down Cake much. The answer is pretty simple: in our house, a cake is usually something that we have for birthdays or very special occasions and other cakes tend to always win over the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake.

For David, German Chocolate Cake is ALWAYS the top pick on his birthday.

For me, Carrot Cake wins.

And then the kids all have their favorites: chocolate chip cookie cake, cheesecake, and others.

Poor Pineapple Upside-Down Cake never stands a chance in our house. So much for being the so-called favorite, huh?

While my Mini Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Doughnuts recipe isn’t exactly the same thing as having a piece of cake (we’re not going to even pretend that they are the same), but they are a fun, very yummy, and a great way to get that Pineapple Upside-Down Cake flavor into a small, hand-held treat.

Rather than frying these doughnuts, they are baked in the oven, so you’ll want to make sure you have a mini doughnut pan. I picked up mine at a thrift store, but you can easily buy a [easyazon_link identifier=”B004CYELQ4″ locale=”US” tag=”homecookingmemories-20″]Mini Doughnut Pan[/easyazon_link] online.

With your mini doughnut pan ready, the first important step is to drain your pineapple VERY well. I used crushed pineapple, which is the easiest, but you could use chunks or even rings, but they will have to be cut into small pieces. Drain the pineapple into a measuring cup, because you’ll need it to make a pineapple syrup.

Filling the mini doughnut pan can be a bit tricky, but to make this easier, I recommend placing the doughnut batter in a quart sized zipper-style plastic bag. Close the bag and then snip off a small bit of one of the corners. This will allow you to squeeze the batter through the hole and into each section of the doughnut pan more precisely.

As with traditional Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, the fruit is placed in the pan before the batter, on top of some melted butter. To add the batter on top of your fruit, squeeze the batter around in circles on top of the pineapple and cherries. Avoid going all the way to the edge though, as this will give the batter enough room to rise and fill in the doughnut well as it bakes.

While your mini doughnuts are baking, you’ll make up a simple pineapple syrup. When your Pineapple Upside-Down Doughnuts are finished baking and have cooled, dip the tops into the pineapple syrup to add even more pineapple flavor and a wonderfully sweet exterior.

Here’s is the complete recipe — if you aren’t ready to make these yet, be sure to pin this post to one of your Pinterest boards (they are great on a cake board or a breakfast board):