If you’re familiar with the show “Psych,” you know that a pineapple appears in every episode. When I decided to include this quirky detective show in the blog, I knew I wanted to make something with pineapple.

Our last recipe with pineapple was a savory fried rice, so we are going sweet with this pineapple upside down cake, which is vegan, gluten-free and low FODMAP. It makes 8 servings.

Topping
0.25 cups margarine, melted
0.5 cups brown sugar
15-20 frozen raspberries
1 can sliced pineapple rings (10-15 rings) – reserve the pineapple juice in the can for the cake

Cake
1.75 cups gluten-free 1-to-1 flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
0.5 teaspoons salt
0.75 cups almond milk
0.25 cups pineapple juice (from the can of rings)
2 teaspoons vanilla
0.33 cups canola oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray/grease a 9-inch cake plan.

Melt the butter then stir in the brown sugar until it forms a syrupy paste. Spread it around the bottom of the pan with a spoon or spatula.

Arrange the pineapple rings on top of the brown sugar mixture. You may need to cut some rings to fill the pan bottom layer of the pan properly, but we did not.

Place the raspberries in the middle of the pineapple rings and any little spots between the rings. (It is more traditional to use cherries here, but I don’t like cherries and they can be high FODMAP.)

Mix the dry cake ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda and salt) together in a bowl or stand mixer.

Add the wet ingredients (almond milk, oil, pineapple juice, vinegar and vanilla) to the dry mixture. Mix everything together until a consistent batter forms.

Pour the batter over the top of the raspberries and pineapple rings. Because the big trick with this cake is to flip it when it’s baked, be extra sure to even out the batter with a spoon or spatula.

Bake the cake for 30 minutes. Take it out of the oven and cover it loosely with foil, then bake for an additional 25 minutes. Use the toothpick test to ensure the cake is cooked through.

Let the cake cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes.

For the magic flip, place a plate or cake stand over the top of the pan. Flip it!

Let it sit for a few seconds so the caramelized brown sugar runs down the sides of the cake, then carefully remove the pan.

Slice and serve. It’s great with a dollop of vanilla ice cream or yogurt. It’s also pretty dang good with a cold glass of (almond) milk.

The Easy Route
Get yourself a store-bought or restaurant-made whole cake or slice if you want to keep things simple while you watch “Psych.” (It might be a little difficult to find a pre-made one that is gluten-free, vegan and/or low FODMAP.)

The Pairing
“Psych” is one of my favorite shows, and we recently rewatched the entire eight-season series, along with the movie specials.

James Roday plays Shawn Spencer, a private detective who uses his highly tuned observational skills to fake being a psychic. Dulé Hill plays Burton “Gus” Guster, Shawn’s best friend and business partner.

In the whole buddy cop/detective genre, the chemistry between Roday and Hill is really hard to match.

Rounding out the cast are a bunch of cops the enterprising duo work with on cases: Timothy Omundson as Det. Carlton “Lassie” Lassiter, Maggie Lawson as Det. Juliet O’Hara, Kirsten Nelson as Capt. Karen Vick and Corbin Bernsen as Henry Spencer, Shawn’s dad and a retired police officer.

Omundson is wonderful as Lassie, the straight man who is often the butt of jokes and the biggest skeptic of Shawn.

The show provides great backstories for Shawn and Gus by flashing back to their childhood experiences in almost every episode.

In addition to some gut-busting laughs, the show draws you in with some recurring bad guys (characters played by Ally Sheedy and Cary Elwes immediately spring to mind) and the will-they-or-won’t-they romance between Shawn and Juliet.

The references to other pop culture, including but definitely not limited to “Twin Peaks” and the films of Alfred Hitchcock, are a key reason why I started and continued watching “Psych.”

Are you a fellow psycho (affectionate term for fans of the show)? Please share in the comments your favorite episode, your favorite pineapple placement and/or your favorite nickname/alias for Gus that Shawn comes up with.

If you decide to make this pineapple upside down cake and/or watch “Psych,” let us know! Tag us in your Instagram posts & stories, tweets or TikTok videos: @veg_out_recipes