My new favorite plant-based cookbook is Carolyn Scott-Hamilton’s The Healthy Voyager’s Global Kitchen (Fair Winds Press, January 2012), a delicious compendium of recipes from around the world. Regardless of any dietary restrictions you may have, The Healthy Voyager cookbook offers alternatives on how to prepare a vast array of popular international recipes. Craving the taste of the Islands? Sink your fork into this yummy Caribbean-inspired vegan dessert.

Islander Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Serves 6

For topping:

• 1/4 cup vegan butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 small pineapple, sliced into thin rings or 1 (19-ounce) can pineapple slices
• 6 pitted cherries, halved

For cake:

• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup vegan butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 egg replacers
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup soymilk

Directions:

1. For the topping, melt the butter in an ovenproof 9-inch skillet over medium heat. Add brown sugar and stir until a caramel-type sauce begins to form, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Remove skillet from the heat and arrange the pineapple slices on the bottom of the skillet and place a cherry-half round-side down into the holes in the pineapple slices.
3. For the cake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg replacers, one at a time. Add vanilla and beat again.
6. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternating with the milk, and beat until smooth. Pour cake mixture over pineapples in the skillet.
7. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack.
8. Run a knife or spatula around the outside edges to loosen and invert the cake onto a serving plate.

More tasty vegan cake recipes!