Upside Down Pineapple Cake

1/4 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecan (optional)
8 slices drained canned pineapple
8 maraschino cherries

Melt margarine in a 9 or 10 inch iron skillet.
Mush in sugar until dissolved.
Remove from heat and add nuts if desired.
Place pineapple and cherries in the bottom of skillet.
Pour in Cottage Pudding batter.

Cottage Pudding:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup margarine
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

Cream sugar and margarine.
Beat in egg and vanilla.
Sift flour with baking powder and salt.
Alternate adding to batter in 3 parts with milk.
Beat until smooth.
Pour into skillet on top of pineapple.
Bake at 350 F for about 30 min.

Note:
This recipe can be adjusted to use other fruits or to use ramicans for individual servings as in the Upside Down Pear cake shown below.