Have you been noticing all the glorious fruits in season? July 4th is getting close, so I thought I’d share a recipe for an easy (although kind of time-consuming – the bake time alone is about 50 minutes), beautiful cake that uses all the fruits that we’re seeing in our gardens, supermarkets, and farmer’s markets! Perfect for bringing to a party or bbq to share with friends and family.

For this upside-down cake, you can use pretty much any fruit that you have. In the three times, I’ve made it, I’ve used a combination of nectarines, peaches, apricots, pears, plums, and apples! You can stick to one fruit or mix it up – it’s really up to you! If you want to get fancy, you might use some red-skinned apples and blueberries to make an appropriately red-blue-and-white upside-down cake. [Note: the bottom would be caramelized so all the fruits are golden brown by the end.]

My recipe is based on this one I found from Food Network, but I’ve modified it to use less sugar and have options for various substitutions.

Ingredients:

10-inch or 12-inch circular cake pan

Fruit: ½ – ¾ inch slices – the equivalent of about 5 nectarines, or 3 large apples
Sugar : 1 cup + 2 tbsp
All-Purpose Flour: 1 ½ cups
Ground Nuts (ex: Walnuts, Almonds, or Pecans): ¼ cup
Salt: ½ tsp
Baking Soda: ½ tsp
Baking Powder: 1 tsp
Butter – Room Temperature: 6 tbsp (you can use an entire stick of butter if you want, but I felt that it didn’t make a difference)
Eggs: 2
Brandy/Bourbon : 3 tbsp
Buttermilk: 1 cup (I never have buttermilk so I just get a cup of milk and add 2 tbsp of lemon juice)
Optional Lemon Juice (to keep apples from turning brown and to add to the caramel base)
Optional Cinnamon: 1 tbsp (or more, or less)

Instructions:

Tip: This is a great cake to make with family/friends. You can divide the steps (someone to cut the fruit, someone to assemble the dry ingredients, someone to get the caramel started, etc.) and it’ll go so much quicker! If you’re making it for the first time, by yourself, it might take a couple of hours.

Prep Dry Ingredients:
In a small bowl, mix together flour, ground nuts (I use a mortar and pestle), salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add cinnamon if desired. Set aside.

Butter/spray your cake pan.

Prep Fruit + Milk:
Cut your fruits! Prepare your milk + lemon, if you don’t have buttermilk.

Make Caramel:
Put ½ cup + 2 tbsp of sugar into a pan. Add 3 tbsp water and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Turn on the heat. Mix the sugar once. Wait for the mixture to boil. Swirl the pan occasionally, and keep watching the color.

Once it’s an amber brown, quickly pour into your cake pan. Carefully (perhaps with an oven mitt), but swiftly, swirl the cake pan so that the caramel forms a thin layer covering most of the pan. [Note: It’s okay if the sugar starts getting hard and doesn’t quite cover the entire bottom. This happened a couple times when I made it, but it ends up being delicious and gorgeous anyway.]

Preheat Oven to 375 F.

Arrange Fruit:
Now, the fun part! Arrange your fruit in a pretty design. The standard procedure usually calls for concentric circles, but really, whatever floats your boat! It’s your cake (and you get to eat it, too ;))

After you arrange the fruit, take your 3 tbsp of bourbon or brandy (I use brandy), and sprinkle over the fruit + caramel.

Make Batter:
In a large bowl, cream your room temperature butter + remaining ½ cup of sugar. I like whisking things by hand, so this basically means that you just whisk for a couple of minutes (until your arm gets tired) and your butter/sugar mixture turns fluffy and white-ish.

Once your sugar + butter is fluffy, stir in the eggs. One at a time. After that’s mixed in, you’re going to alternate the dry ingredients with your buttermilk: Dry – milk – dry – milk – dry. Precisely in that order! Careful not to over stir.

Your finished batter should be kind of airy, with the baking soda and baking powder starting to work their magic. Ladle the batter carefully over your beautifully arranged fruits/caramel.

Bake:
Now, at 375F, bake your cake! You should check on it after about 45 minutes and see if it’s ready to come out. Depending on your oven, it might take a little bit longer than that.

Once it’s done, wait about 15 minutes for it to cool a bit. Use a knife around the edges to make sure it’ll pop out nicely. Take a large, flat plate and put it over your cake pan. Using oven mitts (or a towel) to protect your hands, quickly (but carefully!) turn over your cake pan. You should hear/feel the cake slide down onto the plate.

You’re done! Enjoy your cake! It’s delicious both warm and cold. Adding a scoop of ice cream won’t hurt, either 😉