Cake Mix Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

These muffin tin pineapple upside down cupcakes are one of our favorite boxed cake mix recipes. Mini size cakes you can make using ingredients from the Dollar Store. If you love muffin tin recipes this is a fun one to try.

I’m a little obsessed with my muffin pan. I have cooked almost everything in them! When it comes to desserts I love using muffin pans mostly because it skips the messy cutting step, and they are already made into portions for each person…plus kids love it! Here is our easy recipe for pineapple upside down cupcakes. (affiliate links present)

Muffin Tin Pineapple Upside Down Cake

We do love making our easy pineapple upside down cake with yellow cake mix in a bundt pan, but once again it’s messy. This is a great way to get that same great taste but in already portioned cakes. I use my large muffin pan for this recipe.

Get your kids involved in this one because they will feel successful once they are done. Baking in a muffin tin is great. It doesn’t take long to cook and are already individual servings so you don’t have to slice anything.

Pineapple upside down cupcakes

I have made this classic dessert all sorts of ways over the years. Of course when you use a larger pan you use pineapple rings whole, this time you will need smaller pieces. Even a spoonful of drained crushed pineapple would work well in this case.

What I like to do is reserve the pineapple juice for extra flavor. Some boxed mixes require a bit of water. Instead of that I will use the juice! Then since I hate to waste I will drink the rest, or make a glass of my favorite pineapple cocktail. I mean…..it would be tragic if you didn’t do something with it right??

To make an easier cleanup, and cuter if you buy patterned ones, you can use cupcake liners inside. They will turn out wet on the bottom so keep that in mind if you do. The silicone versions are best because of that issue. OR just use some cooking spray in each hole so all the goodness slides right out.

Pineapple Cupcakes Ingredients

I literally bought all the ingredients at the Dollar Store this time. They cost me a whopping $3 for everything! I had a stick of butter at home already in this case but several times I have even found that in their refrigerated section. For a dairy free version use plant based butter product and that works too. This is what you will need.

1. Cake mix – we used yellow, and items to make cupcakes
2. Maraschino cherries
3. Pineapple
4. Butter
5. A large bowl to combine the things for the batter

I use whichever yellow cake mix I can find on sale, like I said I found this one at the Dollar Store. Brands don’t totally matter but I will say the name brands are a bit more moist. If you do have a bit more money I would go for Duncan Hines if you can. If you have an electric mixer to get it all smooth without any lumps that is your best bet overall.

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes with Cake Mix

• Make sure you’ve sprayed your pan holes with non stick spray, liners don’t work as well as it will soak up the goodness.
• Add half a pat of butter (or 1 tbsp melted), one cherry, and two pineapple slices that has been cut into 4 pieces from one original ring.
• Add the yellow cake mix batter on top of the until you fill about half the muffin cup.
• Cook as directed on cake mix box, in a preheated oven at 350 for about 15 min.

The way I ensure these are done is to not necessarily use a toothpick, sometimes you can overbake them this way. Instead use your finger. Pull the pan out a bit and gently touch the center of a few of them. If they spring back then you want to pull them out immediately. The biggest thing is you don’t want them to dry out.

In the case that you touch one and it doesn’t pop back up but rather just stays down then it needs another 2 minutes or so. Give it that bit of time and then check again this same way. These are great served still warm right out of the oven with a bit of whipped cream after you’ve flipped them over on to a plate.

If you wanted some frosting just mix some confectioners sugar with a little water. This will make a quick glaze to drizzle over the top when they are done and you’re ready to eat. When they come out just scoop each one out, flip it over and drizzle with frosting.

Do you have to refrigerate pineapple upside down cupcakes?

When they are done if you have leftovers I would keep them in an airtight container and in the fridge. If you have quite a few just place a piece of waxed paper in between the layers so they don’t stick together and become a lumpy clump together.

Since there is fruit in there you don’t want it to get soggy and kinda’ an ewy texture on the outside. Keeping it cool will kinda’ prevent this issue. The next day you’ll want to add more frosting and microwave for 45 seconds. Then enjoy again!

Could you make this with boxed chocolate cake mix?

I mean if you wanted to tweak this you could certainly use any flavored mix that you wanted. Nothing would change. You always will follow the directions on the back of the box to make the initial batter but everything else would need to be followed from there

And that is how you make pineapple upside down cupcakes. Here’s a recap.

• Make cake mix as directed (for deeper flavor use pineapple juice or soda with chocolate flavors in place of water if that is needed in directions).
• Spray your muffin pan with non stick spray. 
• Put 1 tsp of melted butter in bottom of each muffin hole + 2-3 pieces of pineapple + 1 cherry + pour batter on top of that (fill to mid line of each muffin hole). 
• Cook at 350 degrees for approx. 15 min. or until top of cupcake springs back.

If you love this idea we have a few more that are just as easy!

• For mini apple pies are fabulous.
• I’ve made Instant Pot pineapple upside down cake too!
• Our crustless quiche in a muffin pan is a great dinner too.

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