Pineapple Upside Down Cheesecake

This is my copycat version of The Cheesecake Factory‘s Pineapple Upside down Cheesecake. You have to take your time making cheesecake; you have to bake it on the right temp and make sure to leave the oven closed throughout the whole cooking process. We do not want the heat to escape. Ya'll know I like to cook from scratch; I'm just learning how to bake so this box mix will have to do. I used a 9 inch cake pan and a 9 inch springform pan.

Cooking Process

Mix your cake mix following the instructions on the box, spray some non stick butter/oil in the springform pan. Pour half of the mixture in your pan and bake according to the directions. Use a toothpick to poke small holes in the cake to make sure it's done cooking (the toothpick will come out clean if it's done). Set it to the side

You’ll be using 2 different pans for this, so for pan #2 melt your butter, spread the brown sugar on the bottom of the pan evenly. Add your pineapple rings with cherries in the middle, and throughout empty gaps ( not excessively) around the pineapples. Pour the remaining cake mixture on top of the pineapples. Bake according to the box instructions.

To make your cheesecake mixture it's best that your cream cheese is set out to room temperature, first mix your cream cheese and granulated sugar, put in your cracked eggs 1 at a time, mix batter after each egg, add in lemon juice, sour cream and vanilla extract.

Take the cake that you baked in the springform pan ( this is not the cake with the pineapples) this would be the plain cake; pour the cream cheese mixture on top and spread it across the pan evenly.

For the water bath, take a roasting pan and make sure the springform pan can fit in it comfortably, wrap foil around the pan leaving the top of the cake exposed, use a double layer of foil. Add 3 cups of hot water to the bottom of the roasting pan. Bake on 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Once its done baking leave it in the oven for 40 minutes with the oven off making sure not to open the oven door.

Once it's done baking set it on a wire rack or a plate for one hour. After the hour put it in the refrigerator for 4 hours minimum, or overnight. I actually prefer overnight to make sure it's completely cool. Once the cheesecake is completely cool; top it with the other half of the cake (pineapple upside down).

Ingredients

1 box of cake mix ( Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme) - use the ingredients on the box along with the measurements and cooking time.

** If you cannot find the Pineapple Supreme mix use yellow cake mix instead and substitute the water for pineapple juice.

Pineapple upside down topping

4 tablespoons of melted butter

1/2 cups of dark brown sugar

1 can of pineapple rings in the juice

Maraschino cherries with no stem

Cheesecake mixture

3 -8oz blocks of softened cream cheese

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1/4 cup of sour cream

1 squirt of lemon juice

I would serve this with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!