Beach Plum Upside-Down Cake
Ingredients
Upside-Down Glaze
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup soft butter
- ¼ cup honey Lyle’s Golden Syrup, or corn syrup
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 2½ cups whole beach plums pitted
Cake Batter
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon almond flour
- ¼ teaspoon plus ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon plus ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cups brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
Upside-Down Glaze
- Measure everything except the beach plums into a bowl.
- Blend vigorously by hand or mixer, until there are no visible streaks of butter.
- Spread over the bottom of a pre-greased 8” x 8” pan, or similarly sized skillet, and tightly pack the beach plums on top of the glaze.
Cake Batter
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Measure the dry ingredients and mix together.
- Whisk the remaining 6 ingredients in bowl until thick, smooth, and emulsified.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix to a smooth batter.
- Scrape batter over the pre-arranged beach plums and bake for about 45 minutes. Juices should bubble along the sides, and a toothpick inserted into the middle part of the cake should come out clean.
- Wearing long-sleeved potholders, remove from the oven, cover the top of the cake pan with a sheet pan, then immediately flip over and whack firmly onto the counter, hitting the top of the pan to loosen the fruit. If any fruit is stuck, put it back on top of the cake with a butter knife while hot syrup is still pliable. (Be careful—hot sugar syrup can burn!)