Although using fresh produce always sounds like the best option, using canned pineapple is the best choice when making a pineapple upside-down cake.

All canned fruit, including pineapple, is cooked, and when pineapple cooks, it gets sweeter, resulting in an upside-down cake that isn't tart.

While fresh pineapple is naturally juicy and releases more juice as it cooks, canned pineapple is the better option in terms of taste and texture.

Canned pineapple is more syrupy than fresh, so instead of the juice soaking into the surface of the cake and making it mushy, canned pineapple creates a layer of caramelization.

However, if fresh pineapple is all you have, give it a quick saute until it resembles canned pineapple — just make sure it isn't too hot when transferring it to your cake pan.