Spiced Plum Almond Upside Down Cake Food

PLUM-ALMOND UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

Steps:

• Prepare fruit layer: Cut plums into quarters; remove pits. Heat butter in a large saute pan over medium heat until it sizzles. Add plums; cook 2 to 3 minutes, until well coated and shiny.
• Add sugar and cinnamon, and stir to coat plums. Cook, stirring frequently, until plums soften, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Remove fruit with a slotted spoon, and transfer to a baking sheet to cool slightly. Remove pan from heat, saving syrup.
• Butter and flour a 9 1/2-by-2-inch round cake pan. Arrange fruit, with cut edges down, in concentric circles starting with outside edge of pan. Fit leftover fruit into any spaces that remain.
• Return syrup to medium heat, and boil until very thick with large bubbles. Immediately pour over fruit. Let cool.
• Prepare cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in cornmeal with a fork.
• Place butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Crumble in almond paste, and beat with the paddle attachment. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, and beat until creamy.
• Add egg yolks, and beat until well combined. Beat in extracts. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Set aside.
• In a clean bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Gradually sprinkle in 2 tablespoons sugar, and beat until soft peaks form. Add a third of the whites to batter, and mix with a whisk. Gently fold in remaining whites.
• Spread batter over fruit, and bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in pan.
• Just before serving, place pan over low heat for 1 minute to ease unmolding. Run a knife around edges to loosen, and invert onto a serving plate.

SPICED PLUM UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE WITH OATS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Combine oats and water in a medium bowl. Let sit for 20 minutes.
• Combine brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Add oatmeal mixture and mix until combined.
• Sift flour, baking soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and allspice together in a bowl. Add to oatmeal mixture.
• Place 2 tablespoons butter in a 9-inch square baking pan and melt in the preheated oven. Remove from the oven and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top. Sprinkle plums evenly over sugar. Pour batter over plums and spread evenly.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

PLUM UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE WITH LEMON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Combine 3/4 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons water in a 10-inch ovenproof skillet and stir until the mixture looks like wet sand. Cook over medium-high heat, gently swirling the pan occasionally but not stirring, until light amber, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and arrange the plums in concentric circles over the caramel; set the skillet aside.
• Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Beat the butter and the remaining 1 cup sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Whisk the milk, sour cream and lemon zest in a small bowl. Reduce the mixer speed to low; add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour, and mix until just incorporated. Pour the batter over the plums and spread evenly.
• Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. (Cover loosely with foil if the cake is browning too quickly.) Let sit 15 minutes, then invert onto a platter and let cool completely.

PLUM UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

Steps:

• Place 3 tablespoons butter in a 9x9 baking pan. Put in the oven at 350 degrees until butter is just melted.
• Remove from oven and stir in brown sugar and water until combined. Spread to an even layer in the pan.
• Arrange plum slices on top of the sugar mixture in the pan.
• In a large bowl mix flour, pecans, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
• Add milk, 5 tablespoons butter, eggs and vanilla. Beat with a mixer on low speed until combined. Beat on medium for 1 minute.
• Stir in orange peel.
• Spoon batter over top of plums in pan.
• Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
• Loosen sides of cake from pan and invert onto a serving plate. Serve warm.

PLUM UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base of a deep 20cm springform cake tin. Combine the butter with 50g of the light brown soft sugar and spread onto the base of the lined tin. Arrange the plum wedges on top in concentric circles.
• Tip the buttermilk, vanilla, oil, remaining sugar and eggs into a large bowl and beat for 1-2 mins using a fork or whisk to break up the eggs. Tip in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and mix until you have a smooth batter. Carefully pour this on top of the plums, then put in the oven for 45 mins to 1 hr until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin completely, then remove from the tin and invert onto a board or serving plate.

KATE'S HEALTHY SPICED PLUM UPSIDE DOWN CAKE WITH VANILLA CUSTARD

Steps:

• HINT: The plums do not need to be ripe. Although my plums refused to ripen, they still baked up to be sweet and soft because the heat caramelized their natural sugars.
• NOTE: Vanilla Custard should be made ahead of time and chilled in the refrigerator. Caramelized Plum Topping and Spiced Cake should be made right before serving.
• CARAMELIZED PLUM TOPPING: Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Grease sides only (not bottom) of 10 inch cast-iron skillet. If you do not have a cast-iron skillet, you can use a 10 inch cake pan or a 9" by 9" square pan. Set aside.
• Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan. Stir in ½ cup brown sugar. Spread in bottom of prepared skillet or pan. Arrange plum slices slightly overlapping in a pretty spiral pattern working from outer rim to center. If using blueberries, arrange plum slices first, and then arrange one ring of blueberries around the outer rim of the pan. Arrange the remaining blueberries in a circle in the center of the pan filling in the gaps. Sprinkle a even layer of nuts over fruit. Set aside.
• SPICED UPSIDE DOWN CAKE: In a medium bowl, sift together whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, ¼ cup sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat milk, applesauce, eggs, vanilla, and orange zest.
• Stir flour mixture into egg mixture just until combined. Pour batter over fruit and nuts. Let rest for 5 minutes to allow baking powder to activate. Bake at 350F degrees for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Remove from oven. Let rest for 5 minutes to allow cake to absorb juices. Invert onto a platter that is at least 12 inches in diameter. Use a platter with raised sides if you have one, so that the juices are not spilled and wasted. Do not pour off excess juices, the cake will absorb the juices as it cools. Serve warm topped with Vanilla Custard, vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream.
• VANILLA CUSTARD: Mix 1/3 cup sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg, and salt in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, scraping corners of pan with spatula, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute.
• Gradually whisk at least half of hot mixture into egg yolks. Then, whisk back into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla until you cannot smell alcohol. Pour into a bowl. Press plastic wrap directly on Vanilla Custard to prevent tough layer from forming. Refrigerate about 3 hours or until chilled.
• NOTE: Leftover Spiced Plum Upside Down Cake and Vanilla Custard should be stored in the refrigerator and may be eaten warm or cold.

PLUM UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir 6 tablespoons butter, brown sugar and honey in heavy medium skillet over low heat until butter melts and sugar and honey blend in, forming thick, smooth sauce. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides. Arrange plums in overlapping concentric circles atop sauce.
• Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat remaining 6 tablespoons butter in large bowl until light. Add sugar and beat until creamy. Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in extracts. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, mixing just until blended. Spoon batter evenly over plums. Bake cake until golden and tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool in pan 30 minutes.
• Using knife, cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Place platter atop cake pan. Invert cake; place platter on work surface. Let stand 5 minutes. Gently lift off pan. Serve cake warm with whipped cream.