Doubting Thomas

In conjunction with the ribs that I made for the Super Terrible Commercials Bowl, I popped out an amazing pineapple upside-down cake despite my mom having a terribly negative attitude about it.  I was second-guessed at every turn, some might even say sabotaged.  In light of her horrible attitude, it's amazing any food was produced that day, but I prevailed once again.

Just as an example, she insisted - some might even say she threw a tantrum - that I use canned pineapple rings rather than fresh pineapple (which she had on hand).  I guess that would have been an option if I wanted people to choke on it and die.  I feel that I have a little bit higher standard than that though.  Next she demanded that we caramelize the sugar in a pan with the syruped up pineapple rings. I'm still unclear if she even knew what she was talking about there or if she just wanted to be a contrarian.  I'm leaning toward the latter.  Needless to say, I didn't follow either of those commands.  Lastly, she was nearly in tears begging for it to be laden with maraschino cherries (the worst of all the fruits) and walnuts.

If you want to make a pineapple upside-down cake that is delicious, here it is.  Generally I wouldn't use a cake mix, but I was in a hurry so I used a yellow cake mix.  My sister apparently is taking a cooking class in high school, so she took care of making the batter and helping me with the pineapple.

Pineapple Upside-down Cake
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick unalted butter, salted
1 1/2 tbsp honey
1/2 tspn dark rum
1/2 tspn vanilla extract
1/2 pineapple
kosher salt
batter from yellow cake mix

1.  Combine the brown sugar, butter, honey, rum, and vanilla in a bowl and whip until it is well combined and looks like a thick batter.
2.  Spread a thin layer of this mixture (about 1/4" thick) evenly on the bottom of a circle cake pan (I think it was about 8").
3.  Cut the half pineapple in half lengthwise.  Cut the core out and cut the bark off.
4.  Cut the pineapple crosswise into fan shapes about 1/8" thick.
5.  Starting at the outer edge, place the pineapple fans around the ouside with the rounded side facing outward.  When you have covered the perimeter with the pineapple slicdes, make another ring just inside of that pineapple ring, but this time with the flat edge facing outward.  Continue this process, alternating directions of the pineapple slices until the sugar mixture is completely covered.
6.  Pour the batter into the cake pan until the pan is about 3/4 full.
7.  Heat oven to 350.
8.  Put cake in the oven and cook for about 40 minutes, turning it halfway through.  When you insert a knife into it, the knife should come out clean.
9.  Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to cool for 5-7 minutes.
10.  Put a plate on top of the pan and invert the whole thing so that the cake turns out onto the plate.

Here is a picture, hopefully it will help with the explanation.