Pineapple Upside Down Cake – Small Batch Baking

My Mom has been pestering me to bake her favorite dessert: Pineapple Upside Down Cake. 

But I’m on a low-carb diet (curses) and can’t help her devour a whole cake, so what is a girl to do?

HA! She pulls out her handy, dandy, Small-Batch Baking book. This book is neat because the recipes are scaled back so they make only enough for 1 or 2 servings. But don’t mistakenly think that these recipes are easy just because they make a small quantity. This Upside Down Cake was involved, and packed with a shopping list of ingredients. 

Here is the upside-down pineapple portion. You have to brown 1-1/2 teaspoons of butter in two jumbo muffin cups, mix the pineapple and brown sugar and then spread the pineapple mixture on top of the browned butter. 

The batter called for 3 tablespoons of buttermilk. Buttermilk! Who keeps that in their frig? 

I sure don’t, but I do keep powered buttermilk on hand. In baked goods this stuff tastes as good as the real thing, and there is no waste! The only head scratcher is trying to figure out how much powder to put the small batch recipe. I have to admit I needed a calculator for this one.

So here is the batter going into the oven… 

And the cakes coming out… 

I had some trouble with the center of the cakes cooking so the edges got a little brown. I finally had to turn down the oven temperature and covering the cakes with aluminum foil. The bottom and sides came out a little crispy, but the inside was nice a moist. 

And tasted delicious, according to my Mom.  I was a good girl and stuck to my diet. Not even a crumb of those evil carbs touched my lips. 

So if you ever want to make an elaborate cake for just 1 or 2, try the Small-Batch Baking book, but be prepared to get a lot of bowls dirty and dig out those teeny, tiny 1/8 teaspoon measuring spoons. 

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Low Carb - Macadamia Nut Cheese Cakes (mini)

Over the last three years I have packed on the pounds, and after creeping up four pants sizes I’ve declared “Enough Is Enough”. I stood on my groaning scale and declared, “I will not buy a size 16 pants”.

So now I’m back on my low carb bandwagon and have sworn off all baked goodie. Ummm scratch that... I’ve sworn off all baked goodies made with sugar and flour. Now that doesn’t sound QUITE so bad.

So what kind of dessert doesn’t contain any flour or sugar? Jello? Pudding?

How about Cheesecake?

I love cheesecake, and these little cheesecake gems are allowed on my diet. With a short list of ingredients (cream cheese, Splenda, egg, and vanilla) they pack only 4.7 carbs per serving. If you add the macadamia nut crust they zoom to 5.5 carbs per serving.

Be still my Low-Carb heart.

The recipe starts out with a nut crust.  I use macadamia nuts nuts because they have the lowest carb count, but you can also use almonds, pecans, cashews, or a combination of all four.  I can never find unsalted macs (at a good price) so I just buy the regular and wash and dry them off before chopping.

I chop the nuts, mixed them with a little butter and Splenda, and then evenly divide the mixture between the 7 cupcake liners (use the aluminum liners because the paper ones will absorb the butter and make a mess in your pan).  Next I press the chopped nuts firmly into the liners.  I have a vitamin  bottle that is the perfect shape for this.  Just wrap it in an aluminum cupcake liner and flatten the nuts against the bottom of the pan. 

Bake the crust for 8 minutes...

And then cover with the filling... 

Just out of the oven they a high and puffy...

 

But they will deflate as they cool...

Hope you like these as much as I do.  They are a sanity saver when you are on a low-carb diet.  These little bit of sweet, baked goodness keeps me strong and helps me avoid the really bad (really good) stuff.

Enjoy

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Low Carb - Mini Macadamia Nut Cheese Cakes
(yield 7 servings; 5.52 carbs per serving)


Crust  (optional) - total carbs: 5.5g; carbs per  serving: 0.79g

2 oz unsalted macadamia nuts , finely chopped;  (net carbs: 4;  8 carbs - 4 fiber) 
1 Tablespoon Butter, melted ( carbs = 0)
1 Tablespoon granulated Splenda (carbs = 1.5)


Filling - total carbs: 33.1; carbs per  serving: 4.73

1 block Regular Cream Cheese (8oz), softened (carbs = 8)
1 cup baking Splenda (carbs = 24)
1 large egg (carbs = 0.6)
1 teaspoon vanilla (carbs = 0.5)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Crust Directions:

• In a small bowl blend the chopped nuts, 1 TBL melted butter, and 1 TBL Splenda.
• Spoon the nut mixture evenly between the 7 cupcake liners.
• Press/compact the nut mixture firmly into the liner. I use a vitamin bottle wrapped in a foil cupcake liner wrap to compress the nut mixture. The vitamin bottle is the perfect fit for the cupcake pan.
• Bake the crust for 8 minutes. Note: it may smoke slightly

Filling Directions:

• While the crust is baking, prepare the filling.
• Cream the cream cheese and Splenda until light and fluffy. About 3 minutes
• Add the egg and vanilla, and mix until incorporated
• Spoon the filling on top of the hot nut crust.
• Bake 25 minutes until tops are golden brown.
• Store in the refrigerator or freezer after they cool.

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