Mom's (and Grandma Brown's) Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Every holiday, my Mom and Grandma Brown from Dad's side would make this cake.  Mom used walnuts, but grandma used pecans. Sometimes she used walnuts, sometimes pecans. I would stand in the kitchen and watch them make it, and they would school me on all their favorite little tricks.  I basically knew how it was made before I was even old enough to cook.  Above is a photo of the one I made in a past Thanksgiving, it came out great! 

Mom's (and Grandma Brown's) Pineapple Upside Down Cake

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup butter
1 box cake mix (any kind, your choice, I normally use plain yellow)
1 jar of maraschino cherries (save the juice)
1 can of sliced pineapple (save the juice)
1 bag pecan halves (optional, can be a small bag, enough for at least a couple handfuls)

Directions:

1. Melt the butter and brown sugar together in a pan over medium heat until all the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture starts to caramelize and bubble. Stir often to prevent burning. Should be about 5 minutes after butter is melted.

2. Preheat the oven to the temperature indicated on your cake recipe box.

3. In a large bowl, follow the directions for preparing the cake mix. If the recipe calls for any water, replace as much of that water as possible with juice from the pineapple can and cherry jar (that was grandma Brown's special touch). If its less liquid than the recipe needs, fill the rest with water. This will give the cake a nice pink color, and add extra flavor. Add liquid to cake mixture and blend well.

4. For baking, either use an extra large Iron skillet, or whichever cake pan(s) you have on hand. Coat the bottom of your cake pan(s) with the melted butter and sugar. If using 2 pans, be sure to distribute it equally.

5. Layer the pinapple slices (as many as will fit without overlapping) in the bottom of your cake pan(s), try to keep it even. Place 1 cherry in the center of each pineapple slice.

6. Place pecan halves in all the areas between the pineapple slices.

7. Pour your cake mixture carefully and evenly into the pan(s), on top of the pineapples, butter and sugar. Again, if using 2 pans, make sure the cake mix is distributed equally.

8. Bake in the oven according to the times indicated on your cake mix box.

9. When cake is done, remove from the oven and let cool on a protected surface for about an hour.

10. Use a butter knife to loosen the edges of the cake from the sides of the pan. Place a dish over the cake pan (or grandma used a large piece of cardboard covered with aluminum foil) to catch the cake, and very carefully flip the cake pan over, so the cake falls onto the plate (or cardboard). Nothing should stick, but if something does stick, simply remove it from the pan, and replace on top of the cake whereever something is missing. Pineapple upside-down cakes are very forgiving in the appearance of the top layer.

You can eat this cake warm, or cool, depending on what you like. Store covered in refrigeraator.