My mother turns 71 today.

I managed to spend most of the day distracted by the fact that it’s her birthday, and the heaviness of all such implications. But it caught up with me in the afternoon. I could feel my mood speedily disintegrating from neutral, or even optimistic at the day’s prospects, right down into irritable wretch. I’ve just felt upside down today.

I did things I know to do when I get this way; I reached out to friends, and I snuggled the dog. I baked. Now I’m writing. I knew — and still know — that the upside down feelings don’t last forever. But that didn’t mean I could ignore them and avoid contending with them.

What does one bake when one is feeling upside down, you ask? A pineapple upside down cake, of course!

This cake often seems like a daunting endeavor for people, but I can’t say enough how simple and utterly delicious it really is. And because I want to be the opposite of my mother (and because talking about this cake is another helpful distraction), I’m happy to selflessly share my upside down cake secret with you all! So here it is:

I cheat.

Ha! I suppose that could be a matter of opinion; once-upon-a-time staple Food Network personality Sandra Lee would call it semi-homemade, and that works too. But essentially, I start out traditionally, with melted butter and brown sugar in the bottom of the cake pan, followed by carefully laying pineapple rings down and filling in as many gaps as possible with maraschino cherries. My departure is that I use a vanilla box cake mix (I personally use a sugar free mix). Gasps and clutching of pearls! I know! But when I’m feeling like I need things to be less hard, either physically or emotionally or both, a mix can really be helpful. That being said, when I’m making pineapple upside down cake, I follow the box directions for preparation for the cake batter, except that in lieu of the water, I put in the pineapple juice reserved from the canned sliced pineapple. I find this to be a game changer, personally, if you’re going the semi-homemade route.

I just sliced into this cake and ate a piece with some whipped cream, and it really was exceptionally delicious. And just like that, the day is almost over, and I’m feeling much less upside down than I was. We all have upside down days; it’s all a matter of how you handle it.