Warm Cherry Upside-Down Cake
While Pineapple Upside Down Cake is my first love, this Warm Cherry Upside Down Cake is gaining ground; the perfect summer version.
There are many days when my food choices for the day are limited; on purpose, to a bowl of cereal with fruit for breakfast and a simple salad or sandwich for lunch. As a result, there are also many times while I’m on Twitter that I see so many amazing pictures of fabulous food that I can get hungry for something more delicious but I keep on task and just drool a bit.
When I saw someone tweet about a cherry upside down cake though…I was smitten. Neighbors were coming the next day for coffee and dessert so I had a reason to make it and it helped that I had two pounds of cherries in my refrigerator just waiting for the perfect reason to be pitted and incorporated into something special.
Enter my daughter and her friends. And my neighbor Sally from across the street who had just brought me a gallon of milk she had picked up for me. What happened? It was GONE…all but for one tiny little piece of cake that I did get to have with coffee. But no cake, no picture, boo hoo.
Something I might have been heartbroken over (OK maybe just a little dramatic) but this was easy, I could do it again and I had thought about making my own revisions.
I soooo love Pineapple Upside Down Cake; and found this cake and the cherries to be amazing but the topping to be just a little lacking so my 2nd attempt replaced the white sugar in the topping with brown sugar and that’s more what I was expecting; a bit of a caramel touch!
Though the original called for buttermilk, for my first attempt I used regular milk, but did use buttermilk for the 2nd try and actually like the lighter texture from the regular milk…I figure, lighten up the cake a bit because I’m making the topping a bit richer. Perfect!
Warm Cherry Upside-Down Cake
Ingredients
For the Topping:
- 6 Tbsp butter
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup sliced almonds toasted
- ½ pound sweet cherries pitted and halved (1/2 pound is about 40 cherries)
For the Cake:
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ⅔ cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease the sides (not the bottom) of a 9-inch round cake pan or 10" skillet. (I had a bit of the topping drip onto the bottom of my stove; suggest you put a cookie sheet under the baking pan).
- Melt the 6 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the brown sugar and the lemon juice and cook, stirring just until the sugar dissolves and the mixture bubbles. Pour into the prepared pan and swirl the pan to coat the bottom evenly with the mixture.
- Evenly distribute the toasted almonds over the bottom of the pan.
- Place the cherries, cut side up, in the pan in concentric rings.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the remaining 1/2 cup butter on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining 1 cup sugar gradually, beating constantly until pale and light and the mixture is not grainy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.
- On low speed, add half of the dry ingredients and beat until blended. Add milk and beat until blended. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until blended. Transfer batter to the prepared baking pan and spread evenly.
- Bake until the cake is well risen, golden brown, firm to the touch and beginning to pull away from the sides of baking pan; about 45-50 minutes. Test for doneness with toothpick inserted in middle and comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and immediately invert the cake onto a serving platter. Leave the cake pan upside down over the cake for about 2 minutes, then lift it off. If a few almonds or cherries stay behind in the pan, place them back on the cake or better yet...just pop them in your mouth!
- Serve warm.
Lighten up the cake = make the topping richer. Now I know why we’re friends Barb!!! This looks beautiful, love the idea of tart cherries and almonds. Nice pairing.
That looks so delicious! Would love a slice of that with a cup of Earl Grey this afternoon. YUM!
Oh, I would love to share some with you…but would mean making the third cake in as many days. No, not eating it all by myself…but think I could!
cherry & almond is one of those perfect flavor combinations. i can only imagine how good this is (for breakfast!)
Mmmmmm, Upside down cakes are the business, me likey too 🙂
Mmm- this sounds great! As soon as our AZ weather cools down I will start baking again- that is my only reason to like winter (besides angora sweaters!)
It should be easy to convert this recipe to gluten free- yum!
This is a stunning cake! The brown sugar sounds like a better idea then the white. And almonds? Yes, please!
Almonds and cherries made a great marriage. I have a question, did you use tart cherries or sweet cherries? Our cherry seaon is past, but I can get frozen ones in our grocery store.
I used sweet cherries Jane; I don’t think I’ve ever cooked with tart cherries. They do cook in the bottom with the butter/brown sugar mixture so tart ones might be OK. I didn’t make this a part of the recipe cause not everyone would have it, but I sprinkled some Leopold Bros Tart Cherry Liqueur over the top. Oh my.
good idea, I have some tart cherry concentrate that I use in smoothies sometimes…thanks for your quick response. Here in the Heartland, we have a lot of tart cherry trees, sweet ones don’t do as well. So I almost always cook with the tart ones. Have a great day!
OMG! I love cherries! What a great idea. I’ve never thought to do cherry upside down cake.
Long ago, in a faraway land, I think I did one once with canned cherries. Obviously did not leave a lasting impression. This did!
It’s like breakfast, snack and dessert all in one. Me likey.
Oooh I want! I’ll come for cake and coffee, you know I will! Love cherries and love this kind of cake and yours is just perfect!
If I thought it would get you here for coffee; I would stop, right now and do it!
Gorgeous cake!I love the almonds and cherries together!