These Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes are just as tasty as the original, but dairy-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free and perfectly portion controlled! The perfect summertime dessert! This post contains affiliate links for products I’m obsessed with.
Confession #117 – I was faced with a tough decision last month…and it gave me all the mom guilt.
My annual girls weekend and my daughter’s first ever dance recital happened to be on the SAME weekend. You guys, I agonized over this one. In fact, if you know me, I probably talked your ear off about this.
In the end, I decided to join my girls in Nashville for 36 hours and then I hopped an early am plane (hello, hangover) to come home on Saturday in time to see my little girl on stage. By some miracle, my flight left on time and all was well. In fact, it made me feel like Supermom. Look at me! I CAN do it all.
Anyway, these adorable clean treats are inspired by my amazing BFFs who I was lucky enough to meet my freshman year in college.
Say what you want about sororities, but twenty years later (damn, I’m old), we still have an incredible bond and we pick up right where we left off each time we are lucky enough to be together.
Because our colors are gold and white, our official cake is the Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I don’t know much about other sororities, but I am pretty proud to belong to one that has their own cake. And each year before pledging started, we would make a huge Thanksgiving style dinner with Pineapple Upside Down Cakes for dessert.
Of course we used vanilla cake mix for the cakes and tons of sugar and butter. I mean, we were 18 and so were our metabolisms. But I am totally serious when I say these clean and healthier versions totally deliver and taste just as delicious as the original. And with almond flour as the base, these are actually low carb and paleo friendly.
I even found these awesome Maraschino Cherries 
at my local grocery store that are dye free and no artificial anything. You could easily leave them out, though, or even use a fresh or freeze dried cherry! Yum! For container purposes, I am just calling these a yellow treat…this is just the way I roll. Feel free to count them differently if you see fit.
My kids and my husband (including my daughter who HATES pineapple) love these and actually asked for them twice since I made them. I served them on Mother’s Day this year and they were a huge hit. If you give them a try, let me know what you think!
Looking for more Gluten Free Desserts? Try one of these-
Gluten Free Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
Berry Crisp [Gluten-free | Dairy Free]
No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies [Vegan | GF]
Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes
Ingredients
- Coconut oil or coconut oil spray
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 2 cups almond flour I LOVE Bob's Red Mill Super-Fine Almond Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 6 pineapple rings
- 1/3 cup pineapple juice reserved from can
- 4 teaspoons vegan butter or coconut oil
Instructions
- Grease 6 muffin tins liberally with coconut oil or coconut oil spray and preheat oven 350. Place 1 pineapple ring in each tin.
- Mix almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, 1/3 cup maple syrup, pineapple juice from can, and vanilla.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Melt butter or coconut oil and mix in 2 T of maple syrup. Drizzle over pineapple rings, then pour batter into the prepared muffin tins.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Let cool, then carefully use a butter knife around the edges of the cake to release. Flip pan over carefully to release cupcakes. Top with a cherry in the center!
Notes
Nutrition
Dana says
This was super quick and easy and tasted great. My pineapple slices didn’t fit down in the muffin cup but I just pressed them down around the side. The cake baked up over the edge but it still popped out of the tin and I had pineapple upside down muffin top cupcakes. Yum!
Nancylynn says
Lol! This made my day! Thank you for taking the time to comment and leave a star rating – we appreciate you!
Kara says
Finally tried these out. They were sweet and moist. I liked the size of the recipe (6 cupcakes)
Nancylynn says
Glad you liked them!
KRISTEN SCALA says
Nancylynn, I made these to the letter, but they came out really dense. Is that normal? Did I do it right? They taste good but there was enough ‘batter’ for 10! What did I do wrong?
Debbie Bullard says
HI! Wanted to let you know my non-21DF friend made these with a tsp of chopped pecans on the bottom of the cup, and used a tbs of crushed pineapple on top of the pecans (Cuz she only had crushed on hand). Wow, just as good!!! I am still counting them as a treat. -db
Nancylynn says
Oh my word!!! That sounds incredible!!
Jennifer says
These were absolutely delicious!! My whole family loved them!
Nancylynn says
I am so happy to hear this!
Debbie Bullard says
These were awesome!!! Totally satiated my need for a PUC! Homemade is ALWAYS better than storebought when it comes to this dessert!! Thanks!
I signed up for your mailing list -db
Nancylynn says
I’m SO excited to hear it and couldn’t agree more!!!!