I must say, I’m pretty proud of this one!  It is so good!  A very satisfying cake, but with a lot less sugar and fat than any recipe I’ve seen, even the “healthy” ones!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (Gluten Free)

Serves 10

Bottom (Pineapple) Layer:

1/4 cup Earth Balance spread (or butter/or non hydrogenated margarine)
2 Tbsp maple syrup (or agave syrup or honey)
1/2 cup sucanat (or raw brown sugar)
6-8 pineapple rings, fresh or canned (patted dry with paper towels)

Cake:

1.5 cups oat flour *
2 scoops vanilla whey protein powder*
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch sea salt
1/2 cup Krisda stevia baking formula*
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg whites (from whole eggs)
1 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (1 snack pack)

*NOTES:

– You can make oat flour by grinding quick oats or old fashioned oats into a fine flour.  You could use a blender, food processor, or coffee grinder.
– Choose a low carb/low sugar variety of protein powder.  I use one sweetened with stevia.
– If you can’t find Krisda stevia baking formula (sold in Canada), use any stevia meant for baking (NuNaturals, Stevia In the Raw, Truvia, etc)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a small saucepan, heat margarine (or butter) until melted.  Add in maple syrup & sucanat.  Heat until it just comes to a boil.  Pour hot sugar mixture into a 9 inch round cake pan or 8×8 square pan.  Arrange pineapple rings on top (make sure they are patted with paper towels to remove some of the liquid).  Set aside.

In a large bowl, add dry ingredients (oat flour, protein powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, stevia).  Mix together with a beater on low speed (or use a whisk).  Add in wet ingredients to the dry (vanilla, egg whites, almond milk, applesauce).  Beat with mixer until well blended.  Or whisk very well.  Batter will be runny.  Pour batter over the pineapple/sugar mixture in the pan.  NOTE: I used a 9 inch round cake pan and didn’t quite use all the batter.  It doesn’t rise much, but leave about 1/2 inch of room so it doesn’t spill over.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes until golden brown on top & toothpick comes clean.  It will also pull away from the sides of the pan.  Once its out of the oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes.  Run a knife around the outside, and invert cake onto your serving plate.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 229  Fat: 6.5 g  Carbs: 39 g Sugars: 17 g  Fibre: 4.5 g  Protein: 7.3 g