Go Back
+ servings
White dish of pineapple upside down cake kabobs.
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Pineapple Upside Down Cake Kabobs

Upside down pineapple cake has an upgrade! Pound cake, pineapple, and cherries on skewers and cooked over the campfire for a perfect campfire dessert.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: campfire desserts, Camping, Freezer Friendly, pineapple upside down cake kabobs
Servings: 10
Calories: 328kcal
Author: Karrie

Ingredients

  • 4 cups fresh pineapple cut into chunks
  • 1 - 10 oz pound cake
  • 1 jar maraschino cherries
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ cup melted butter
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 10 roasting skewers for grilling or if cooking over campfire use roasting sticks

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix well then add pineapple and stir to coat all sides of pineapple pieces.
  • Chop your pound cake into 1-½ inch cubes (about the size of your pineapple chunks).
  • Dip each cube into melted butter then roll in the sugar until coated on all sides.

Make it Now

  • Drain cherries from the juice.
  • Add items to kabob skewer sticks in this order. One cherry, Cake, Pineapple, cherry, cake, pineapple, cherry, cake, pineapple, cherry and cake.
  • Grill: Preheat your grill to high heat. Place your kabobs on a lightly greased, hot grill grate and cook, turning often until pineapple and cake are golden brown and slightly crispy, about 3-4 minutes. Be careful to turn often so they don't burn.
  • Campfire Coals: Your campfire should have been going for a while so that you have a nice 1-2 inch layer of hot & ready white coals. If you are using briquettes, light them and wait about 10 minutes until they are not flaming and starting to turn white. Place your kabobs on a lightly greased, hot grill grate and cook, turning often until pineapple and cake are golden brown and slightly crispy, about 3-4 minutes. Be careful to turn often so they don't burn.
  • Campfire: have a nice roaring campfire going. This method (kind of like roasting marshmallows) is the most difficult to get them perfect, but hey, it's camping. Burning stuff happens, right? It's still good. :) Roast kabobs over the fire, turning and watching always until cake and pineapple are golden brown and slightly crispy.

Make Ahead & Freeze

  • There are two different ways you can decide to prep these ahead.
    1. Make Kabobs & Freeze: Add all the dipped cake, pineapple and cherries onto pre-soaked or metal skewers. Place in 2-gallon sized freezer safe bags, being careful not to poke holes in the bag. Seal bag, removing air and freeze flat.
    2. Freeze ingredients without skewers. Dip all your bread in the butter & sugar, then place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Flash freeze until hard, about 30-45 minutes. Then transfer to a gallon sized freezer safe bag and freeze until ready to use. Add pineapple, brown sugar and cinnamon to another freezer bag, swish around to coat pineapple. Drain cherry juice and add cherries to a quart sized freezer bag or keep in jar and use when it's time to cook. Add all bags to one bag and freeze them together.

Cook from Frozen

  • I love to cook mine right from frozen, but it doesn't matter which way you cook them from. From frozen use the same instructions as above, but give them a little more time (maybe 2-3 more minutes) to cook all the way through.

Notes

If using wood skewers, soak in water 6-12 hours first. Tip: soak the whole package of wood skewers in water overnight, then place into a gallon sized freezer bag, seal and freeze to use whenever you need pre-soaked wood skewers.
Making these at home? Use a gas or charcoal grill in your backyard.  You could even use an indoor grill pan on your stove to cook this dessert!
If you find your cake is falling off of the skewers while grilling, try freezing the kabobs for 5-10 minutes before grilling. I have found that certain kinds of pound cake are more crumbly than others. Moist pound cakes or homemade cakes seem to fall off the skewer less. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 328kcal | Carbohydrates: 60g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 255mg | Potassium: 132mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 49g | Vitamin A: 370IU | Vitamin C: 32mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 1mg