Last Updated on March 15, 2022 by laurenpacek
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This Pineapple Upside Down Cake Shot is sweet and adorable. It's reminiscent of a pineapple upside down cake, both in appearance and flavor!
Table of contents
What is a Pineapple Upside Down Cake Shot?
Before we get into what this shooter is like, it might be a good idea to talk about this shot's namesake: the Pineapple Upside Down Cake.
What is Pineapple Upside Down Cake?
Pineapple Upside Down Cake is a retro dessert made up of a buttery cake and a topping of caramelized brown sugar, pineapple, and maraschino cherries.
It's called an upside down cake because it's assembled and baked upside down. The toppings go into the bottom of the pan, with the cake batter being poured on top. Once the cake has been baked, you invert the pan and voila! You have a beautiful pineapple upside down cake.
Click this link if you'd like to see what a pineapple upside down cake looks like.
What about the shot/shooter?
A Pineapple Upside Down Cake Shot plays on both the flavors and appearance of the cake from which it takes its name.
There's red at the bottom, mimicking the maraschino cherries, and the bulk of the shot is yellow, which mimics the pineapple topping as well as the buttery cake. In terms of flavor, this shot has sweet fruit, pineapple, and vanilla flavors, very similar to the cake itself.
Ingredients
There are only 3 ingredients, but let's walk through them!
- Pineapple juice: I opt for canned pineapple juice, purely for the sake of convenience. But if you have a juicer and want to juice fresh pineapple, then by all means do it!
- Vanilla vodka: I tend to use Smirnoff Vanilla, but use whatever brand you enjoy.
- Grenadine: Store bought or homemade grenadine will work in this recipe.
- Maraschino cherry: This one is optional, but you can garnish the shot with a maraschino cherry. It looks super cute.
How do you make it?
First, add the juice and vodka to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until very cold before straining the liquid into a tall shot glass. I double strained mine--meaning that I used a Hawthorne strainer and a little fine mesh strainer--to make sure that none of the pulp from the pineapple juice would cloud this layer of the shot.
Next, you want to pour a tiny splash of grenadine down the inside of the shot glass. Use a spoon to help you out. You'll use a technique similar to the one we used to layer these Baby Guinness Shots.
Just go slowly, pouring a teeny tiny bit of grenadine at a time, and all will be well.
See how the grenadine sits on the bottom of the shot glass instead of mixing into the juice/vodka? This is exactly what you want to see.
Garnish it all with a maraschino cherry if you're feeling a little fancy. All I did was cut a little slit into the bottom of the cherry so that it could sit on the edge of the shot glass.
Now toss one of these shots back!
Recommended tools
Other shot and shooter recipes
Make sure to check out these other fabulous recipes for shots from A Nerd Cooks and others!
- Lemon Drop Shots from Shake Drink Repeat
- Pink Starburst Shots from A Nerd Cooks
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Shots from Feast and West
- Baby Guinness Shots from A Nerd Cooks
- Alabama Slammer Shooters from The Spruce Eats
Frequently Asked Questions/Tips and Tricks
Sure. My other recommendations would be whipped cream or cake flavored vodkas.
I like to use the stuff in a can. However, if you have a juicer and like to juice, then by all means use fresh.
You can easily make a bigger batch of the pineapple juice and vanilla vodka portion of the shot. Just scale the ingredients up by however many shots you want to make. The grenadine, however, will have to be poured into the shot glasses individually.
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Pineapple Upside Down Cake Shot
This Pineapple Upside Down Cake Shot is sweet and adorable. It's reminiscent of a pineapple upside down cake, both in appearance and flavor!
Ingredients
- 0.75 ounces pineapple juice
- 0.75 ounces vanilla vodka
- splash of grenadine
- maraschino cherry, for garnish
Instructions
- Add the pineapple juice and vanilla vodka to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until very cold. Strain into a tall shot glass.
- Pour a tiny bit of grenadine down the inside of the shot glass, over the back of a spoon. Do this very slowly. The grenadine should settle on the bottom.
- Cut a small slit into the bottom of a maraschino cherry and sit the cherry on the rim of the shot glass.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 1 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 122Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 6mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 0gSugar: 15gProtein: 0g
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