Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I don't know why, but I had a serious craving for this the other day.  I was specifically craving that gooey, syrupy, brown sugar goodness that is on the top.  Well, and those maraschino cherries.  I had a box of gluten free pound cake mix, so I decided that I would take the "short-cut" route with a recipe I found in my Joy of Cooking cookbook.  This was so easy, but the presentation makes it look like you spent a lot of time on it.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

2 Tbs. light butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 can pineapple rings, in their own juice, drained with juice reserved

1 small jar maraschino cherries without stems

1 box pound cake mix

1/4 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. ginger

2 eggs (an egg sub works fine)

3/4 pineapple reserved juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray, coating completely.  Dump the butter in the pan and place in oven for a few minutes until melted.  Remove pan from oven and swirl the butter around so it completely coats bottom of pan.  Evenly sprinkle brown sugar over butter.  I had to use a fork to break up the sugar and make sure it was blended into melted butter.  Place one pineapple ring in center and then add the other rings around it (you won't use all the rings).  Place a cherry in the center of each ring, and if you like cherries as much as me, add the extras in any other open space.  Set pan aside.  In a medium mixing bowl add cake mix, spices, eggs and reserved pineapple juice.  Using an electric mixer, beat on low to incorporate ingredients.  Turn speed up to medium and beat for 2 minutes.  Carefully pour batter over the pineapple rings.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.  Make sure you check it at 35 minutes though!  Once nice and golden, take it out and tilt pan side to side to loosen the edges (don't skip this step, it helps for when you have to invert it).  Let cake cool for a few minutes.  Now comes the trickier part.  Place an inverted serving platter or cake stand over top of cake.  Holding platter with one hand and cake pan with other (using a hot pad of course), invert the cake on to the platter.  Carefully slide the cake pan off.  If you greased the pan well and loosened the edges you shouldn't have any problems.  You can serve cake warm, but after it's cooled, I like to stick it in the fridge.