Lemony Plum And Blackberry Upside Down Cake

This is a really delicious simple cake that I loved having with my afternoon tea. It is literally the easiest upside down cake I have made. The fruit doesn’t need to be cooked with the sauce which makes things a little easier especially if you are trying to make a pattern with your fruit at the bottom of the pan for visuals. The syrup itself is also so easy to make. All the ingredients for it just need to be melted and stirred. Can’t get easier than that right? The batter comes together quickly and the cake bakes up so beautifully.

I made this cake to use up the many plums I had that needed to be baked into something. They were a little too ripe to enjoy just as they were so cake or pie was the next best thing for them. I opted for cake cause it’s was easier and also I didn’t have any pie dough in the freezer. So I went on a search for a quick and easy one. This is actually a mashup of three different recipes and it very very happy with it.

Ripe fruit is perfect for this cake. The fruit and sauce gets extra syrupy and sticky and delicious. Less ripened fruit will hold up better and will make for a prettier more distinct pattern on the cake though as the fruit will not break down as much. Another thing that helps if you want a very distinct fruit pattern is slicing the fruit into thicker pieces. I cut mine pretty thin and they sort of got lost as the slices were not only thin but also ripe and basically melted into the sauce. There are really no rules when it comes to how thin you cut it or how ripe it should be but I wanted to share some observations from me making it a few times. Either way you cut it (see what I did there), it will be delicious.

I used yellow plums in this recipe because that is what I had but you most definitely can use any plum you would like or have on hand. In fact any stone fruit would work beautifully with this cake along with any berry. I love to mix berries with stone fruit and this is why I made it this way. They just work so well together. I also had a stash of wild blackberries from the backyard that I wanted to use up and knew they would be delicious with the plums in this cake.

There are two things I will say to make sure the cake comes out of the pan beautifully. Make sure to follow both. I strongly recommend lining the bottom of the pan with parchment paper - strongly. I also strongly recommend waiting the full 30 minutes before inverting the cake and the 5 minutes after. As the cake cools there is some shrinkage to it and it naturally pulls away from the pan and inverting it when it does will help it come out perfectly. Simple and very effective tips.

I say this about most of my recipes but I will say it again- this cake js so simple to make. It totally hits the spot with a cup of tea and I even snuck a piece or two for brekkie with my coffee. It’s also great way to use up any of your ripe stone fruit and excellent excuse to make cake. We served it up with some whip cream and a dusting of powdered sugar and some chopped almonds for a little extra texture. Those are all completely optional. It’s light, not too sweet and that hint of lemon in the batter is just right. If you are looking for a quick and easy to whip up upside down cake this is definitely one you must try.

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed golden brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 4 large plums or 8 small , halved, pitted, each half cut into 4-6 wedges
• ½ cup blackberries cut in half
• 1½ cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon all spice
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• Whipped cream to serve (optional)
• Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)
• Crushed almonds for dusting (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a medium sauce pan over low heat stir 6 tablespoons of the butter, brown sugar and honey until butter melts and sugar and honey forming a thick, smooth sauce.

3. Pour it into a greased 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides lined with parchment paper on the bottom.

4. Arrange plums over sauce in overlapping concentric circles stopping to leave room for the blackberries in the middle. (Def change up the pattern and placement of the fruit according to preference)

5. Then for the cake whisk together the flour, baking powder, all spice and salt in medium bowl and set aside

6. Using electric mixer, beat remaining 6 tablespoons butter in large bowl until light and airy, a couple of minutes.

7. Add sugar and beat until creamy then add eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract.

8. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, mixing just until blended. And then mix in the lemon zest.

9. Spoon batter evenly over plums. Bake cake until golden and tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour.

10. Transfer to rack; cool in pan 30 minutes.

11. Using knife, cut around pan sides to loosen cake.

12. Place platter atop cake pan. Invert cake; place platter on work surface. Let stand 5 minutes.

13. Gently lift off pan. Serve cake warm with whipped cream a dusting of powdered sugar and some crushed almonds if you wish.

Adapted from Epicurious