Old Fashioned Plum Upside Down Cake

I had a ton of plums I had bought, planning to snorf them down with DH (I love summer fruits!) and to my dismay, discovered they were super tart/sour. So what’s a woman to do? Why, cook and bake with them, of course!

This was fine since I love fruit cakes and so does DH. This cake was sampled by my son Netanel, as well (who periodically divebombs us and sneaks away with food/cake, hey, newlyweds, they’re allowed!) who is NOT a fruit/cake fan and even he liked it, so away we go.

I chose the upside down cake since (a) it’s pretty, I know, I can’t help myself and (b) the topping is with sugar, not just the cake part and it would offset the intense sourness of the plums. It did indeed do so and in fact turned the plums a bit jammy, all to the good.

Now I’ve played around with many variations of the upside down style cake, including tart tatin, and learned a few tricks in my professional baking course with the fabulous Galia so it’s important to know, that despite what most recipes would have you do, which is to IMMEDIATELY flip over the cake (I’ll explain, that’s the upside down part) you should NOT do that. Once the cake is removed from the oven, let it settle for about 5 minutes (yeah, time it) and only then flip onto a nice platter. Trust me it works and will stop you from being aggravated by flipping too soon.

I make this in a 9 inch round pan, not a springform (tried it and it oozed, not a thing to be desired even though I foil wrapped it and put on a baking sheet etc.) and you should spray oil the tin well before melting the topping in it.

Onward to the prep.

Start with your plums.

I wound up using 3 nice sized plums, sliced medium thin. Set aside. Next prepare your pan. First oil spray the whole pan. Yes I know you will melt butter in there, do it anyway. You really don’t want it to stick. If you wish, you can swirl the butter on the sides after melting, too.

Melt the butter or marg in a 350F oven just till melted usually about 5 minutes or so (you know your oven, if it bakes hot or slow, adjust accordingly). remove the pan and dissolve the light brown sugar in the hot butter/marg swirling gently till melty. Now for the fun part. Take your beauteous sliced plums and decorate the bottom of the pan with them like so (remember, they will be on top at the end so you are making a design).

It needn’t be perfect just pretty. 🙂 . Now put this aside and get to the cake. I warn you in advance, the batter will seem kinda meager and yup yup it is. This is not a big high cake, it’s a lowish cake that you can polish off at a breakfast or brunch with a little help from your friends. You will have just enough batter to cover up your plums more or less.

Take your very softened butter/marg, and sugar and beat smooth.

Add all the other ingredients after.

As you can see it’s a bit thick and creamy, not a loose batter.

Make sure it’s fully incorporated, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula. Then gently pile the lot on top of your prepared plums in the pan.

Already looks yum, no? Gently smooth the batter all about till all covered. Don’t worry if there seems to be just enough, that’s as it should be. It will rise with the leavening but not high, about 3/4 up the pan. Note that it’s approximately 1/2 way up the pan (even a bit less).

Bake in your preheated 350 F oven for 30-35 minutes or till toothpick comes out clean and cake is golden brown like so:

Now let it rest for about 5 minutes and then gently pry the cake away from the sides of the pan. Do this twice to be sure it’s not sticking. Take the platter you will serve the cake on and place on top of the cake pan, centering the platter and quickly invert the cake (using mitts, be careful!) onto the platter. Leave the tin upside down on top of the platter for a couple of minutes and remove carefully. And there you go, a lovely light cake with a plummy, jammy top. Fab for breakfast, brunch, dessert and if you wanna go wild, serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, why not?

Old Fashioned Plum Upside Down Cake

Topping (actually bottom of cake)

3 1/2 tablespoons butter/margarine
4 tablespoons light brown sugar
3 nice sized plums, washed, dried and pitted, cut into medium thin slices (see above)

Cake

1/2 cup softened butter/margarine
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
2 flat teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons orange juice (or water or milk, but I like the juice best)
2 eggs  

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Taking a 9 inch round pan, oil spray all over and then prepare the topping by melting the 3 1/2 tablespoon of butter/marg in the hot oven for about 5 minutes (don’t let it burn). Remove from oven and immediately swirl around pan and put the 4 tablespoons of light brown sugar in the hot melted butter and swirl till melty and evenly coats the bottom of the cake pan.

Take your sliced up plums and decorate in a spoke design right in the butter and sugar on the bottom of the pan. Put aside.

Prepare the cake by beating till smooth the softened butter/margarine and light brown sugar together. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla, juice and eggs until fully incorporated and smooth, scraping down sides as necessary. Don’t overbeat. Batter will be creamy and a bit thick. Lightly heap batter on top of the plum mixture on the bottom of the pan and smooth it out. Don’t worry if there doesn’t seem to be much batter, this is correct, it’s a low cake and comes about halfway up the pan. When baked it’s about 3/4 up the pan and that’s the way it should be.
Bake for 30-35 mins until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Leave to stand for 5 mins, and then take a knife and gently pry the edges away to loosen the cake so it won’t stick, do twice to be on the safe side and then take the plate or platter you plan to serve on and place on top of cake pan and invert cake on to platter. Let pan sit on platter for about 3 minutes and remove pan. Serve deliciously as is or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of sweetened whipped cream on the side.