This Vegan Pineapple Upside Down Cake is a buttery pineapple cake topped with pineapple rings and cherry that form a crispy caramel on top. Bring back childhood memories with this egg-free pineapple cake recipe! A vegan version of the classic pineapple upside-down cake but with the classic taste.
Pineapple cake is one the most classic, old-fashioned recipe ever. You know how much I love baking vegan cakes like my Vegan Birthday Cake, Vegan Funfetti Cake, or Vegan German Cake so I couldn’t resist creating a vegan version of this old-time childhood favorite.
But ready for tropical flavor and comfort food to the top with this moist, buttery cake with crispy sides covered with vegan caramel.
Ingredients and Substitutions
To make this cake, you have to first do the base layer before making the top, crumbly dough.
All you need are:
- Vegan butter or vegan margarine – bring to room temperature for 30 minutes to soften the plant-based butter before using it in the recipe.
- Canned pineapple slices in their juice. Don’t discard the juice as it’s used for the batter.
- Light brown sugar or sugar but avoid high moisture sugar like soft brown sugar, as it can make the cake too soggy at the bottom.
- Glacé Cherries – Classic candied cherries or maraschino cherries.
Batter
For the pineapple cake, nothing is easier. You need just a few more staple ingredients.
- All-Purpose Flour – You can also use spelt flour. I haven’t tried gluten-free flour.
- Baking Soda – for a little rise.
- Sugar – or coconut sugar.
- Pineapple Juice from the can used before.
- Almond Milk or soy milk, or any non-dairy milk you like, including oat milk.
- Canola Oil or melted vegan butter if you don’t have canola oil. You can use another vegetable oil, but some oils, like olive oil, can add a strong taste, so I prefer to use a neutral oil.
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor.
How To Make Vegan Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
It’s so easy to make this dairy-free vegan pineapple cake at home that even your kids can make it, and mine make it with me. Let’s start with the bottom layer of the cake. A pineapple upside-down cake is covered on top with pineapple rings, glace cherries, and caramel. Some recipes prepare caramel in a saucepan and cover the bottom of the pan with it. I have another easier method. Let me share this with you.
- In a small mixing bowl, using a fork or a silicone spatula, press the softened vegan butter and sugar together to form a sweet cream.
- Use a pastry brush or a spatula to spread this sweet cream all over the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan.
- Don’t spread much on the sides, except if you are using a spring form pan, as it might make the cake difficult to unmold.
- Spray some olive oil or coconut oil on the side of the pan to make unmolding even easier.
- Arrange the pineapple rings all over the bottom of the pan, on the sweet butter.
- Place a glacé cherry in the center of each ring or between any intersection of pineapple.
- You can break some pineapple rings to fill some gaps where a whole ring doesn’t fit. Set aside while making the batter.
Making The Vegan Pineapple Cake Batter
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, sugar, and baking soda.
- Then, pour the wet ingredients: pineapple juice, almond milk, vanilla extract, and canola oil.
- Stir until just combined you want the batter to be smooth, with no lumps.
- Pour the cake batter into the previous pan.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Bake the cake in the center rack of the oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool down for 10 minutes in the pan before releasing it on a wire rack.
- Use a sharp knife to run around the pan and unstick the cake border from the mold.
- Open the spring-form pan gently, remove then place the wire rack on top of the cake and flip the cake to release it.
- Gently pull the bottom of the pan with one hand and push down the pieces of pineapple with the tip of a knife if they stick to the pan.
Serving
Serve the pineapple cake after 3 hours of cooling, on its own or with some of the below toppings:
- Vegan Coconut Frosting
- Vegan Whipped Cream
- Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream
- Avocado Ice Cream
- Powder Sugar
Storage Instructions
This pineapple cake must be refrigerated and lasts up to 3 days in an airtight cake box in the fridge. Otherwise, freeze the pineapple cake slices or the entire cake in a sealed box and thaw in the fridge the day before.
Allergy Swaps
Below are some food allergy swaps options for you if needed.
- Gluten-Free – The cake batter should work perfectly with a 1:1 all-purpose gluten-free flour containing xanthan gum. Use the same measurement of flour to replace the wheat flour.
- Sugar-Free – Pineapple has sugar, so you can’t totally avoid sugar in a pineapple cake. However, you can use sugar-free natural granulated sweetener to sweeten the caramel and batter, including xylitol, erythritol, or allulose.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below I listed the answers to the most frequent questions about this vegan pineapple cake.
Yes, you can use fresh pineapple, but I recommend slicing thin rings that you pat dry with absorbent paper towels before using them in the pan. This prevents a soggy pineapple cake.
Yes, it’s actually the best. I prefer using a 9-inch springform pan for this recipe. It makes the cake easier to release, and since I don’t pour a liquid caramel at the bottom of the pan, it won’t leak. If you use an 8-inch cake pan, you might have to reduce the recipe by 20% to have it bake at the right speed.
Yes, you can, for example, use less sugar, decrease to 1/2 cup in the cake batter, or use some healthier, sugar-free, natural alternative like erythritol.
Other options are to use fresh pineapple, see the note above, and white spelt flour or white whole wheat flour for a higher nutrient profile.
No, a classic pineapple upside-down cake contains many animal products like eggs in the cake batter and butter in the caramel. Therefore, pineapple cakes are not vegan but easy to make at home without eggs, dairy, or butter.
More Vegan Dessert Recipes
Below I listed more vegan cake recipes and plant-based desserts to satisfy your sweet tooth.
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Vegan Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
Bottom layer
- 3 tablespoons Vegan Butter (Unsalted) - softened, not melted
- 3 tablespoons Soft Brown Sugar
- 7 Pineapple Rings
- 6 Glace Cherry
Vegan Pineapple Cake Batter
- 1 ½ cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 6 tablespoons Vegan Butter (Unsalted) - or canola oil
- ½ cup Pineapple Juice - from the can used before
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
Bottom Layer
- In a small bowl beat/press with a fork or silicone spatula the softened vegan butter and brown sugar to form a creamy paste.
- Use a silicone spatula or pastry brush to spread the soft butter mixture all over the bottom and sides of a non-stick 9-inch springform pan. It must be generously coated at the bottom to form a thick caramel.
- Pat dry the canned pineapple ring with absorbent paper, then arrange the pineapple ring all over the bottom of the cake pan. If they are too large, break them into pieces to fill the gaps.
- Place a glace cherry in the middle of each ring or gap. Set the pan aside in the fridge while making the cake batter.
Cake
- In a mixing bowl, whisk flour, sugar, and baking soda.
- Fold in pineapple juice, melted vegan butter, almond milk, and vanilla extract. Stir with a silicone spatula until the batter is smooth.
- Pour the batter over the prepared pan with pineapple at the bottom.
- Bake in the center rack of the oven for 30-45 minutes, and foil the pan if it browns too fast to your liking. Check the baking time every 5 minutes after 30 minutes by inserting a pick in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean or with a little crumb on it the cake is ready to come out of the oven.
- Cool for 10 minutes in its cake pan then flip it over a wire rack to fully cool down at room temperature.
- Serve plain or with vegan vanilla ice cream.
Storage
- Store leftover in an airtight cake box in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze for later and thaw in the fridge.
Hi there! I am leaving a 5 star review because the cake is very easy to make and tastes delicious. However, I am not sure why you instruct the use of a springform pan. Granted, I have little experience with springforms and may have done something incorrectly but I ended up with batter and butter all over the bottom of our oven and smoke in our house we had to air out for over an hour due to this. A constructive criticism I would suggest would be to offer, as an aside, instructions on more specifically why you prefer this type of pan as well as how to properly use one. I attempted another vegan pineapple upside down cake recipe in a traditional cake pan and it came out perfectly fine with the same level of ease.
Good quality springform pans normally don’t leak and they make the whole demolding sooo much easier. But if you’re happy with your regular pan, go for it!!
Absolutely amazing that I found this vegan option, loved this cake as a young boy!! Stay awesome!! Stay Blessed!! It will be fantastic this weekend!
My kids loved it, my friends loved it. It was gone before I had time to taste it so I guess and can’t give you my full opinion 🙂
I LOVE this cake. It’s quite easy to do and the pineapple slices caramelize, it’s so good.