Coconut Soda–Pineapple Upside-Down Cake – Garden & Gun - Garden & Gun

In the writer Illyanna Maisonet’s beautiful, deeply reported, and personal new book, Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook, she shares stories of Puerto Rican life that are far from touristy cliches, reflecting on her family—especially her mom’s mom, her Nana—and her own experiences exploring what Puerto Rican foodways are all about. “When Nana made pineapple upside-down cake, she would coat the baking pan with margarine and brown sugar and line it with canned pineapple rings and maraschino cherries,” she writes. “She also added 7UP to the boxed cake mix. She poured the batter over the pineapple and cherries and baked it until the cake was golden brown and firm in the center. Unforgettable.”

She continues: “Much to the chagrin of Chef Teresa Urkofsky, my mentor and former pastry instructor, I love boxed mixes. I make an upside-down pineapple cake with guava and cream cheese frosting for all my pop-ups and private dinners. I have always been so surprised by the number of people who say they don’t like cake. But those diners liked my cake. Whether they were just being polite or I had truly converted them, the world will never know. The confession is…those cakes for private dinners were always made with a boxed cake mix.”

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