Hello everyone who is left! I havent posted in quite a while, as you may have noticed. Sorry ’bout that! Things have been quite busy for me, but anyone who knows me personally knows that I secretly love to be busy. I like to be working towards something. Going in the direction forward, rather than at a stand still. I am now working full time (40-50 hours a week), school for photography full time, homework galore and of course, taking care of my hungry boyfriend Kyle and our dog Holly! And I love every minute of it. I am in an architecture photography class, so I have been taking plenty of pictures of buildings and architectural details. And who wants to look at buildings on a food blog?

But here are two pictures anyways!

So in between classes and a busy work schedule, I still have to cook and eat great food. If there is one thing this busy girl won’t do, it’s resort to fast food. Instead, I make my own food… fast. I have made it a habit to make plenty of ‘make ahead’ dinners, such as these great broccoli and cheddar twice baked potatoes, and dinners that make great lunches the next day, like these pasta recipes. But let’s not forget, I have a major sweet tooth! I still want homemade desserts, but don’t have the time to make and decorate things like my killer carrot cake (aka the best cake ever). I use my 7qt slow cooker all the time, and have occasionally seen recipes online for cake recipes, made in a slow cooker. So I tried it.

Let me tell you, you can’t achieve this kind of flavor and crust in a plain ‘ol cake pan!

So you may be wondering how a slow cooker cake can save you time. Basically this takes 3.5 hours, rather than say 45 or 50 minutes. Well, while this cake was baking, I was in class. My classes at school are 4 hours and the cake has to cool for 30 minutes before being removed from the slow cooker. So before class I threw all the ingredients in the slow cooker, set it for 3.5 hours, left for school, came home, it had cooled, and I had a piece of cake, and everything was perfect in the world. You can go to class while this is baking, clean your house, cook a fabulous dinner, get a hair cut, read Harry Potter, watch all of the Lady Gaga music videos, or whatever it is you need to do!

This cake is better than your average upside down pineapple cake. And it has to due with the fact that it was slow cooker for 3.5 hours. The butter, brown sugar and whiskey creates a perfect sauce for the bright pineapple. And as it seeps down the sides and receives that side heat only a slow cooker can provide, a beautiful dark crust is formed. Crust, nuts, pineapple, sauce, soft cake.

I mean really… this dessert is awesome.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake with Whiskey Brown Sugar Glaze
yield: 12 servings

(Recipe is for a 7qt slow cooker. If yours is 4qt or smaller, half recipe)

Pineapple:
4 TBS Butter, small pieces
¾ cup packed Brown Sugar
3 TBS Whiskey
½ cup Pecan Pieces
2 cans Pineapple Slices, drained

Cake:
1 ½ cup AP Flour
1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
½ tsp Salt
1 stick Butter
1 1/3 cup Sugar
2 Eggs, room temperature
2 Egg Yolks, room temperature
4 TBS Whole Milk

Pineapple: Butter the inside of 7qt slow cooker and line completely with foil, then butter the foil. Turn to HIGH. Sprinkle with the 4 TBS of butter, brown sugar, whiskey, and pecan pieces, then pineapple slices. Press the pineapple slices into the sugar.

Cake: Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to evenly combine. In another bowl, slowly beat the butter and sugar with electric mixer until just blended. Raise speed to high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks, along each to be fully incorporated before adding the next.

While mixing slowly, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk in two parts, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix at medium speed to make a smooth batter. Pour the batter over the pineapples, and smooth to even it out.

Cover the cake tightly with the lid (adding paper towels around the edge for a tighter seal). Let cake cook on high for 3 ½ hours until the cake begins the brown slightly and springs back when touched in the middle. When finished, turn slow cooker off and let the cake set, about 30 more minutes.

Using the foil, lift the cake from the slow cooker, set on counter to cool, about 30 minutes. Fold back foil and carefully invert onto a platter. Enjoy with ice cream!