Pineapple Ginger Upside-down Cake

Okay, here's another adaptation of a recipe I found online (because we all know how I can't just follow directions...). It came out tasting like some amazing cross between dense molassesy gingerbread and pineapple cake. Awesome awesome awesome - this dessert is so worth the calories.

Ingredients:

Topping
1/4 C (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2/3 C (packed) brown sugar
1 small pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced

Cake
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 C oats
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
3/4 C molasses
1/2 C (packed) brown sugar
1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
2 TBSP fresh grated ginger root
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 C whole milk or soy milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 1/4 cup butter in 10-inch heavy ovenproof skillet (preferably nonstick) over medium heat. Add 2/3 cup brown sugar and stir until mixture begins to form thick mass, about 4 minutes. Continue cooking, without stirring, until butter mixture spreads and covers bottom of skillet and bubbles appear all over surface, about 6 minutes longer. Remove skillet from heat. Arrange pineapple slices close together in concentric circles over sugar mixture in skillet (we ended up with two layers of pineapple).

Sift dry ingredients into medium sized bowl. Using electric mixer, beat molasses, brown sugar, melted butter, grated ginger, eggs and vanilla extract in large bowl until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add half of dry ingredients, then milk, then remaining half of dry ingredients, beating until well blended after each addition. Spread batter evenly over pineapple in skillet.

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool cake in skillet 5 minutes. Run small knife around edge to loosen cake. Place platter over cake in skillet and invert cake onto platter. Cool at least 20 minutes. Serve warm by itself, or with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.