Pineapple Cardamom Upside-Down Cake

Fresh fruit and produce are almost always better than canned or frozen produce, but in this recipe I have tried both fresh and canned pineapple and I think the canned pineapple tastes much better. It ends up being much cheaper and tastes great all year round because you needn't worry if pineapples are in season or not.

Pineapple marinated in spicy cardamom, cinnamon and coconut milk before being soaked in a buttery brown sugar syrup and baked with fluffy vanilla almond cake.

Pineapple Cardamom Upside-Down Cake

1-15oz can pineapple rings, drained
1-15oz can coconut milk
2 tsp cardamom
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cup almond milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cup organic sugar
4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups AP flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup earth balance butter
1/2 cup organic brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9" cake pan.
In a shallow baking dish, combine the coconut milk, 1 tsp of cinnamon and cardamom. Add the pineapple rings and let marinate while preparing the cake batter.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the almond milk and vinegar. Let sit for 3 minutes. Add the oil, sugar and three extracts. Whisk to combine.
In another bowl combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add the dry into the wet in three additions, whisking gently to combine. Set cake batter aside.
In a small pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and whisk. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes.
Pour the butter/sugar mixture into the bottom of a pan. Add the pineapple rings, as many that will fit (usually 5 or 6) or you can cut up the pineapple into chunks to completely cover the surface area. Pour the cake batter over the pineapple rings filling the cake pan 3/4ths of the way up.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes. Place a plate on top of the cake pan, and turn over so the pineapple is now on the top.