Saturday, February 26, 2011

Peach Upside-Down Cake

A moist vanilla cake scented with cinnamon and nutmeg is topped with caramel coated peaches. This is one delicious dessert indeed.
The texture of this cake is more like that of a coffee cake, dense but light and nice and moist. The original recipe called for only vanilla flavoring in the cake, but I added a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger. This made for a rich, warm cake that complemented the peaches and brown sugar caramel topping. 


Butter is melted in a 9-in pie plate and brown sugar is sprinkled over the top to create a caramel sauce. Chopped peaches (or fruit of your choice) are layered on top of the caramel along with a homemade cake batter. This bakes for about an hour than is inverted onto a platter to reveal the glistening caramel coated fruit. Serve it warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream and you have a very delicious dessert.
 

Just a side note. I baked this cake at my grandma's house and was looking for a platter to put it on and came across this antique cake plate that my grandma received as a wedding gift 52 years ago! It has actual butterflies inside the plate. Don't think they make them like this anymore!





Peach Upside-Down CakeSource: Martha Stewart
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup dark-brown sugar
4 cups frozen nectarines, thawed and cut into bite-size pieces
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place 4 tablespoons butter in a 9-inch round cake pan (2 inches deep) and melt in oven. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter.
With two double-thick layers of paper towels, press as much liquid as possible out of nectarines. Arrange fruit in an even layer in pan.
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat 6 tablespoons butter on high until light and fluffy. Add granulated sugar and beat until well combined. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions yogurt, and beat to combine.
With a spatula, spread batter over nectarines. Bake until cake is dark golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour 10 minutes. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack, 15 minutes. Run a knife around edge of pan and invert cake onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.



3 comments:

Shauna said...

There is nothing better than warm spice cake. You would never know the peaches were frozen. It's one of those cakes that everytime you walk by it you grab a fork and have a big bite. Great cake! Make sure you add the spices though. It really makes the cake.

jojo said...

How much ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg did you add?

Bake-A-Holic said...

Hmmm. I just sprinkled a little of each on top and stirred it in. But, try 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/8 tsp ground cloves.

You can use what spices you have on hand, even pumpkin pie spice, 1 tsp. should do it.

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