Pineapple Upside Down Cake {in cast iron skillet}

I have been wanting to try this recipe for a couple of years. Actually, ever since I bought Ree's cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I am so glad I finally did! It was so very good and actually not too hard to make! I mean who doesn't love a pineapple upside down cake? My boys loved it, all of them. I love how it's made in a cast iron skillet, but I bet you could use a regular baking pan and it would be just as good. The original recipe calls for shortening, but you know I don't like that stuff all that much, so I replaced it with butter, and it turned out fine. 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake (in cast iron skillet)
slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks


Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 stick plus 1/4 cup butter
1-1/2 cups milk
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
1- 20oz can sliced pineapple, 2 tablespoons juice reserved
1-1/3 cups brown sugar
Maraschino cherries, optional

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, make the cake batter. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, 1/2 stick of the butter plus 1/4 cup of butter, milk, eggs, vanilla and the 2 tablespoons pineapple juice. Mix until well combined.

Melt the other 1/2 of the stick of butter in a 10 or 12 inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Make sure that the butter is melted and covers all of the pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the melted butter evenly and let the butter soak into the sugar and start to bubble.

Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the heat. Put the pineapple slices on top of the brown sugar and the cherries in the center of the pineapple slices if using them. Slowly pour the cake batter over the pineapples.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean of the center of the cake. (I would place skillet on top of a cookie sheet in case any bubbles over as mine did.)

When the cake is done, run a knife around the edge of the pan and place a cake plate upside down on the skillet and turn everything upside down. Remember the skillet is hot, so use oven mitts. If any pieces stick, just    use a small knife or fork to scrape them off the pan and put them back on the cake, nobody will notice.

This is linked to It's a Keeper.