Recipes
Plum Upside-Down Cake
Ingredients:
For The Caramel:
- 200g sugar
- 115g unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
For The Cake:
- 8 medium plums (about 570g), pitted and cut into eighths
- 255g cake or pastry flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp plus ⅛ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 170g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 220g sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 large eggs
- 220ml buttermilk
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 175C/155C fan/Gas 4.
- Set out a 23cm round, solid-base cake tin that’s 8cm deep.
- Make the caramel. Heat the sugar in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. As the sugar begins to melt at the edges, use a heatproof spatula to pull the melted sugar into the centre, then continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the caramel is a deep reddish-amber colour and beginning to smoke.
- If at any point it looks grainy, reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring, until smooth.
- When the caramel is ready, remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter; the mixture will foam vigorously. Whisk in the ginger, then immediately pour the caramel into the cake pan, tilting the pan so the caramel covers the entire bottom.
- While the caramel is still warm, arrange the plum pieces in concentric circles on top. Remember that the fruit arrangement you’re looking at is not what you’ll see once the cake is turned out, so keep this mirror image in mind as you arrange the fruit, and place the prettiest sides of the fruit facedown in the tin.
- Set aside to cool to room temperature while you make the cake batter.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and bicarbonate of soda into a medium bowl.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl, using a hand-held mixer), cream the butter, sugar, and salt on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about five minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until the batter looks emulsified.
- Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk (if you’re making this with a hand-held mixer, stir in the dry ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk, by hand). Continue mixing (or stirring) until the batter is smooth.
- Transfer the cake batter to the prepared tin and use an offset spatula to smooth the top. Bake until the cake is deep golden brown and springs back when touched, 55 minutes to one hour. Transfer to a wire rack and let the cake cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
- Run a small offset spatula, with the front of it facing outward, around the edges of the cake, pressing the spatula against the tin so you don’t cut into the cake. Invert a serving plate over the cake tin and turn the cake out on to the plate. Carefully remove the tin.
- Let the cake cool completely before serving.
