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American

Any Fruit Upside-Down Cake

by:
July  9, 2015
4
5 Ratings
Photo by Mark Weinberg
  • Makes one 9-inch cake
Author Notes

This is my favorite recipe to make use of seasonal produce, whether it's rhubarb in the spring, berries or stone fruit in the summer, apples and pears in the fall, or citrus in the winter. The cake is made using graham flour, so it's a little nutty and toasty and super yummy; it goes well with just about any kind of fruit. —Erin Jeanne McDowell

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Ingredients
  • For the topping:
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups blueberries (or other small fruit/berries) or 4 to 5 apricots (or other large fruit), halved or sliced
  • For the cake:
  • 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup graham flour
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/3 cups crème fraîche
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
  1. Ready a 9-inch cake pan (springform is great, but not necessary) and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
  2. Grease the pan with the 3 tablespoons of butter and sprinkle the brown sugar evenly in the base. Arrange the fruit in an even layer on top of the sugar.
  3. To make the cake, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes.
  4. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping well after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
  5. In a medium bowl, whisk the graham flour, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt to combine.
  6. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the mixer and mix to combine, then add 1/3 of the crème fraîche. Continue until all ingredients are added. Pour the batter over the fruit and spread into an even layer in the base.
  7. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the cake tester inserted into the cake (don’t push all the way down or you’ll get a tester full of fruit juice!) comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
  8. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then run a spatula around the outside of the cake and invert the cake onto a cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing and serving.
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I always have three kinds of hot sauce in my purse. I have a soft spot for making people their favorite dessert, especially if it's wrapped in a pastry crust. My newest cookbook, Savory Baking, came out in Fall of 2022 - is full of recipes to translate a love of baking into recipes for breakfast, dinner, and everything in between!

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40 Reviews

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Julie August 19, 2021
I made tonight and it was spectacular. After reading reviews I made a few slight adjustments:
Used 2C all purpose flour, sifted, (White Lily Brand, I ❤️ This flour)
I used a 10” x 2” round standard (Fat Daddy or something like that) cake pan, parchment lined and well buttered & brown sugar as listed (perfect size, no overflow)
Baked on silpat lined cookie sheet just in case - didn’t need it
Greek yogurt (not too thick kind) as I didn’t have sour cream
Cut back 1 1/2T of sugar both white & brown (it made me feel like I was being healthy)😉
Peaches 🍑 (skin removed by hot water method)
Convection Baked 40 minutes in my amazing spectacular Miele oven (my 50th BD + 25th Wedding Anniversary gift from my husband and it’s better than 💍 diamonds) we had both of our young adult children home for surprise dinner and they ate 95% of it. (Okay I really hid a piece for me for breakfast - I must be truthful)
Tiffany C. February 21, 2021
For gluten free lovers does not work. Hell tothe NO!..
I USED LIME & RASPBERRIES AND TO MY SURPRISE WHEN FLIPPED UNDERED BAKED & CRISPY.
DENSE AS WELL. SECOND TRY I ADDED 1/2 CUP OF HALF & HALF WITH ALL INGREDIENTS TOO. STILL FINAL WAS CRAPPY.
AUTHOR IS WRONG WITH ANY FRUIT TOO.
I MADE AN ORANGE VERSION LIL BURNT SO TIMING WAS OFF AS WELL.
DONT ADD salt it doesn't need it too.

My mixed very berry version was excellent though I did change half the ingredients. Little burnt but managed. No cream fraiche, no SALT, NO GRAHAM FLOUR, G.F. FLOUR MIX INTRODUCED, AND HEAVY WHIPPED CREAM OR THE UK SAYS ROYAL CREAM. 1 CUP OF DARK BROWN SUGAR ; YET 1/3 OF HONEY TOO. HALFWAY IN BAKE TIME COVER THE LEFTOVER TIME WITH FOIL FOR GREAT CARAMEL LOOKING FINISH.

I KNOW ALL OVENS AREN'T ALIKE. I TRY EVERY TIME USING CONVECTION OVEN W/PREHEAT TOO.
THIS RECIPE 40\60.

amateurwaffle June 20, 2020
Since Stay At Home order, I have been baking a lot more but definitely still an amateur baker here.
In this recipe, I used Whole Wheat flour instead of graham flour; yogurt instead of crème fraîche; opted out half a portion on all sugar; Used 9" cake pan and with fresh blueberries.

Definitely baked in a total of more than 1 hour after all. Since I wasn't home, I had my boyfriend took it out of the oven for me at 35 minutes. He did a simple cake taster test and did his best judgement and took it out the oven. I forgot to check again before I turned it out of the cake pan and realized middle was still soft and wet. I returned my cake the way I turned out (fruits on the top) and put it back to bake on a baking sheet. I baked for additional 60+ minutes (on top of the 35 minutes). I made a circle in the middle of a square foil sheet and cover the cake so only the middle will be baked directly (the middle eventually kind of sunk in and the cake mostly fell apart when I tried to cut it up).
Overall, I didn't encounter an overflow in a 9" cake pan. So I'd say use 35 minutes as a base and check the bake level throughout till it's cooked all the way in the middle. My cake overall was cake batter heavy and the layer of the fruit was too thin in proportion. Thus, if I were to try again this recipe, I think I would've done maybe 2.5 cups of blueberries instead of 1.5 cups blueberries (since the amount of fruits feels very little and the cake portion was just too much). However, the blueberries with the brown sugar layer just taste amazing. Hopefully I can do better next time!
Tiffany C. February 21, 2021
THE TIMING iS WAY OFF.
I KNOW THIS BY TRYING THIS 5 DIFFERENT TIMES.

SALT IS NOT NEEDED AS WELL.
LULULAND April 24, 2020
I know fresh fruit is the best to use , butduring the quarantine I have canned fruit only. Do you think I could use that?
Ejona V. July 26, 2016
Looks amazing :) i'm going to try it soon
genevieve August 28, 2015
I made this cake with whole wheat flour instead of graham and sour cream instead of crème fraiche. I had to modify cooking times and cake pan size but the result was one of the best cakes I've ever made. A cake which was dreaming of pudding, with a fantastic soft crumb. Highly recommend the adventure that is this recipe.
Joslyn July 27, 2015
This isn’t rock science. The volume of a regular 9”x 1 ½” round cake pan is only about 6 cups. This recipe, just for the cake, contains over 5 cups of ingredients, again, that’s without the fruit! The volume of a 9”x2 ½” springform pan is approximately 10 cups. If only using one pan, obviously the 9” springform pan is a better choice. Or double the fruit and use two 9”x1 ½” pans, dividing the cake batter evenly between the two pans.
Jess H. July 22, 2015
A brief follow up (with correction) to my comment of a week and a half ago: I misstated the height of my cake pans - they're 2-inch sides, not 2.5 (I use the pans sold by King Arthur Flour). Baking this in my 9-inch cake pan resulted in massive overflow, but after over an hour in the oven, what remained in the pan turned out delicious. I tried the recipe again in my 10-inch pan, and it BARELY made it; no overflow, but it would have been happier in yet a larger baking vessel. And it took about an hour to bake. Still delicious.
Rachbro July 22, 2015
I have this in the 9" pan in the oven now. I read the whole recipe and comments and followed the recipe to the letter. I left about a cup of batter (practically dough??) out. Good thing I've got in on another sheet pan under this cake pan because it has overflowed tremendously in my oven. I hope it works out because I'm committed to bring a dessert to my dinner hosts tonight... :/ I should have gone with my gut and used a casserole baker for this thing. Tick tock tick tock, almost 50 minutes in and still practically liquid...
Rachbro July 22, 2015
OK, well, it came out ok, after 75 minutes, and a massive overflow, which I just trimmed off around the pan. (Good thing this is a rustic cake!) Fingers crossed it isn't dry inside. This recipe has got to be tweaked! It's too tasty and versatile for these types of problems!
robin D. July 20, 2015
A bundt pan would have solved my problem too. The center took much longer to cook than the recipe called for. Eventually, I cut a circle out of the center and held it in place with a plate as I flipped the cake over and out of the springform pan. I then baked the center for longer. :) I used only serviceberries, and it was delicious.
DebJ July 19, 2015
Planning to make this tomorrow for guests, so am hopeful for a little clarification on the sour cream substitution for creme fraiche: is it the same amount? Also, there are a few comments on the size of the pan, that a 9-inch is too small? Any thoughts? Thanks for the help.
1. Can sour cream be substituted for creme fraiche, and is it the same amount.
Mkilfoyle August 19, 2021
I'm sure I either used sour cream or greek yogurt as Creme Fraiche is next to impossible to get where I live. Equal amounts.
Nancy H. July 18, 2015
Amen to recipes in weights! Yes, let's start a movement! If this recipe used weight measures it could more simply state XXX oz/grams of fruit whole if small cut up i large. Ingredients like creme fraiche or sour cream are much easier by weight!

Also, did anyone try this with sour cream instead of creme fraiche? The price difference is about 100% so if sour cream works I would prefer it.
Nancy B. July 14, 2015
I made this today for my new husband, who is diabetic. I used 1/4 cup of Agave and 1 teas. molasses for the topping. I substituted 1/2 cup of Stevia for the sugar, 1/2 cup of Agave, and added a tablespoon of molasses (to simulate brown sugar) in the cake. I used sour cream rather than crème fraîche, because I thought the thickness would make up for the liquid agave. It came out great!
Lauren M. July 13, 2015
Erin, have you tried baking this cake with AP flour instead of graham? Just wondering if it would come out the same with those measurements!
AntoniaJames July 14, 2015
It should, as the weight per cup of all-purpose flour is the same as the weight per cup of graham flour. ;o)
Cliff A. July 13, 2015
Yes, recipes calling for ingredients by weight are *always* better— mandatory, I think, for baking.
AntoniaJames July 13, 2015
Food52 could take a leadership role here by not featuring (awarding any wildcard, community pick or contest win, or featuring in any column) any recipe for a baked good that is not stated in weight measures. I realize that would disqualify quite a few of my own, but I'm working on updating them! (I test three times before posting, so it takes a while for each one.) I've had more failures than successes lately with recipes here that provide volume measures only, so I'm sticking with weights from now on. ;o)
P.S. Actually, to clarify that: there are several contributors who seem to measure flour consistently at 125 grams or so per cup. I'll use their recipes. Also, I sometimes will reverse engineer recipes by essentially figuring out what the weight measures should be based on standard ratios (Ruhlman's book is helpful there), and proceeding that way. But when all is said and done, why should I have to?
Mkilfoyle July 13, 2015
I agree that this took a lot longer to bake than stated and it made a lot more batter than filled my 10" large pan. I wished I had thought to use a springform but it called for a 9" pan. I made two extra little individual ones. It easily took an hour or more to get done in the center at 350. When finally finished it was delicious and I will make again but I've learned a couple of lessons on this one.
claire M. July 12, 2015
One last thing: I have never, not even once, had a cake bake for the time alotted in any given recipe and had it work out. I always use the time stated in any recipe as a starting point, and adjust depending on my pan, the oven, convection or not, etc. I'm not surprised baking times have been different for everyone. I've cooked professionally for 18 years, and no two ovens have ever baked the same, whether at home or at work.
AntoniaJames July 13, 2015
Yes, longer at a lower temperature is always a good idea for a cake with these ratios. (I'm not a professional baker, but have been baking cakes of all kinds at home since I was about 10, which was quite a long time ago - LBJ was president!) ;o)
claire M. July 12, 2015
This cake is awesome. I baked it in a bundt pan, not sure what size--the regular size? It also seemed to me that it was a lot of batter, but no overflow. I also baked it at 300F for 50 minutes in a convection oven. I loved it, everyone loved it, success! Also, I used 1 c sour cream, 1/3 c buttermilk, and whole wheat flour. Oh, and blueberries. I didn't bother measuring the brown sugar on the bottom, the butter for the pan, or the fruit, just eyeballed it. Fantastic.
AntoniaJames July 13, 2015
Thank you for posting this information. Using a bundt pan almost always solves the problem of a wet interior / failure to bake properly except with a much longer baking time, etc., as is often the case with pound cakes and cakes with fruit in them (with makes the batter so wet). An excessively long baking time results in an overcooked perimeter, which to my mind = a failed bake. ;o)
Nancy H. July 18, 2015
Thanks, claire, hadn't seen your comment on sour cream v. creme fraiche.
Renée R. July 12, 2015
I finally took it out of the oven after 60 minutes. It has now sunk in the center, so if should have been baked even longer. I would say 65 minutes.
AntoniaJames July 13, 2015
Renee, I am so sorry to hear that. I had the same problem with another cake involving fresh fruit posted by another editor of this site earlier this year. Your flour quantities could be off, given how much guesswork and luck are always at play when volume measurements only are given.
As I mentioned in response to another comment, you can't go wrong using a bundt or angel food pan (well greased) when fresh fruit is involved, or you're baking a rich cake such as a pound cake. ;o)
Sara S. July 12, 2015
Oops, sorry, Antonia, I mean Antonia, not Andrea