Mixed Berry Upside Down Cake

Having exhausted a large portion of my chocolate stores making the Hot Cocoa Cookies last weekend, I decided that the next dessert I bake ought to be something that doesn’t use any. I spent the better part of my day just figuring out what the hell I felt like making. I wanted something interesting, but simple and light as well. I had almost given up searching, nearly resigning myself to just making another cinnamon pull apart bread, when I came across a recipe for upside down cake. It was love at first sight.

Having never made (or even eaten) an upside down cake before, I really did not know what to expect going into this one. It came out with a texture somewhere between bread pudding and cake and, frankly, I’m not sure if that’s how it’s supposed to be. One thing I am sure of however, is that it tastes quite good.

Recipe adapted from Recipe Tips

Difficulty: Easy
Active Prep Time: About 30 minutes
Total Prep Time: About 1½ hours
Special Equipment: Electric Hand Mixer (Optional)
Serves: 6 – 8

Ingredients:

• 8 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 ripe peaches or nectarines
• 3 - 4 strawberries
• 1 cup mixed berries: blueberries, raspberries, blackberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.

2. Slice up the strawberries and peaches. Set aside. (Peaches may be peeled or unpeeled)

3. Melt 3 tablespoons butter and stir in 1/3 cup brown sugar. Pour into a 9 inch pie dish.

4. Start by arranging the slices of strawberry in the dish.

5. Arrange the peach slices on top of the strawberries.

6. Strew raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries on top of the peach slices. Set aside.

7. Move onto the cake batter (You can use an electric hand mixer for steps 7 – 9). Melt the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter and mix it with ½ cup of white sugar until smooth.

8. Mix in egg, milk, and vanilla.

9. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt, and baking powder. Pour into the batter and mix until smooth.

10. Pour batter over the fruit and bake and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.

11. Cool on a rack for about 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to free it, then, while the cake is still warm and before the fruit has started to firm up, put a serving plate (must be larger than the baking dish) on top of the baking dish and turn both upside down. Needs no frosting.

Additional Notes:

As I mentioned, the texture of the cake was more like pudding and less like actual cake. I’d suggest using less fruit if you want a firmer cake, as my fruit to batter ratio was a bit higher than the recipe actually called for.