Pineapple Upside Down Cake (Low Carb)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare large (10") round cake pan or springform pan by spraying with cooking spray (butter flavor PAM works great here.)

Cream together in large mixing bowl butter, cream cheese and 1 cup Splenda. Add eggs - one at a time - beating well after each. Add 1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar Twin, mace, and extracts and beat again. Mix almond flour with baking powder and add egg to mixture a little at a time while beating. Set aside. In small bowl, mix 1 Tablespoon Splenda, 1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar Twin and 1 Tablespoon Diabetisweet (if using).

In prepared baking pan, sprinkle sweetener mixture across the bottom evenly. It should 'stick' to the cooking spray at the bottom. Then lay the thin pineapple slices to cover bed of sweetener in a pretty pattern. Place a cherry inside each ring and if you wish, a few around the outsides.

Carefully spoon cake batter onto pineapple/cherry bed being careful not to disturb your layout. If you've used a springform pan, be sure to place it on a cookie sheet before baking to catch leaking juices from the bottom. Bake at 350 F for 45-50 minutes or until golden and cracking on surface. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then carefully invert onto large serving plate. If any cherries or pineapples become displaced, gently nudge them back into place. Pour syrup evenly over cake top, allowing it to sink into the mix.

Can be served warm with a dollop of whipped cream, or chill and serve cold.

NOTES: 1) Instead of Vanilla syrup, you can use sugarfree Pineapple syrup (Nature's Flavors makes a good one) or use a combination. They're zero carb and Splenda sweetened, so use them freely to fit your tastes and moistness desired.

2) Diabetisweet (listed as optional) is an Isomalt/Ace-K mix. It adds only a couple of grams to the entire recipe and helps the topping keep a more "sugared" appearance. I find it locally in my K-Mart as well as in Walgreen's -- both keep it with Diabetic Supplies and not with other sweeteners. It can also be ordered online (see product review area at our site.)

3) The cherries called for in this recipe are the sweet raw red variety. One cherry is less than 1 gram of carbs. In this recipe they grab the sweetness from the Splenda! Frozen ones work well too -- just make sure you buy the unsweetened ones.

4) Learn to use pineapple! It's very carb-friendly. We are all used to the high carbs in the canned versions because they are so heavily sweetened. Even the ones labeled "light" or "in their own juice" are high carb because the juice has been concentrated to be sweeter. Most produce sections in groceries carry pineapple year-round and many carry them pre-cored and ready to slice. A 1/4" slice offers up only about 3 grams of carbs. You can soak your slices ahead of time in a little Splenda if you want to have them with a scoop of cottage cheese!