Any-Fruit Whole Wheat Upside Down Cake
This is the cake I make when I want to lie to myself that I’m being healthy or just use whatever fruit I have sitting around in the kitchen. It’s a high fiber, high protein, lower sugar cake that still tastes great.
Whole wheat flour makes it very nutty, which pairs well with warm spices. Mashing 25% of the fruit and adding it to the batter adds a deep flavour throughout the cake. And it doesn’t hurt that there’s a brown butter caramel making the upside down fruit shine.
Generally I make this by hand, but it is easy to do with a stand mixer. This is a great recipe to learn how to play with flavor and make it your own, it’s relatively low effort, low cost, and high reward. I’ve shared a wide variety of variations at the end of the recipe.
Ingredients
240g whole wheat flour (2 cups)
5g salt
7g baking powder
3g ground cinnamon (1 tsp)
115g butter at room temperature (1 stick/8tbsp)
15g butter, melted, plus more for brushing the pan
100g eggs (2 US Large) at room temperature
120g + 15g sugar (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp)
500g of any fruit (see note)
100g mashed (or grated if very firm)
Around 400g sliced nicely to line the bottom of your cake pan, you may need more or less depending on your fruit. You want a single layer covering the entire bottom of the pan.
125g yogurt or sour cream (1/2 cup)
15g lemon juice (1 tbsp)
7g vanilla extract (you do you)
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F (325°F convection).
Prepare your cake pan
You can use a 9” round or 8x8” square cake pan. If you plan to serve a crowd, you can double the recipe and use a 9x13” pan.
Brush the sides of your pan with butter
Place parchment on the base of the pan, this is a critical step to ensure the fruit releases nicely from the pan and looks beautiful.
Add the 15g of melted butter to the parchment, this is important for a glossy finish on the fruit
Sprinkle 15 (2 tbsp) of sugar evenly on the parchment. If you want to include any spices in the caramel layer, mix them in with the sugar before sprinkling.
Arrange your sliced fruit along the bottom of the cake pan, taking care to overlap slightly as the fruit will shrink while baking.
Mix the batter
In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices.
In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time until emulsified.
Add the lemon juice, vanilla, and mashed fruit, and stir to combine.
Add half the flour, then the yogurt, then half the flour, ensuring the mixture is homogenous before adding the next ingredient.
Optionally, let the batter rest for 30 minutes, which will lead to a more tender finished cake.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until a paring knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Flip the cake
Allow to cool very slightly for 2-3 minutes, this will help prevent burns if any sugar or fruit juice runs out, but still be hot enough the sugar releases. If you leave it to cool too long the sugar and fruit will attach to the pan.
Run an offset spatula around the perimeter of the pan, just in case the cake is sticking anywhere.
Place the wire rack (or a plate) on the cake pan. Using a kitchen towel, hold onto the sides of both the cake pan and the wire rack, and flip the entire unit away from you.
Remove the pan. If the pan sticks, gently wiggly it back and forth like it’s an Oreo. It should release cleanly with the parchment paper attached to the fruit.
Gently remove the parchment paper.
If you lost any fruit, try to remove it from the pan and re-insert it into the cake.
If you would like a high-gloss finish, you can brush the cake with some melted apricot jam.
Notes and variations:
You can make this with any kind of fruit:
Pomes, like apples, pears, and quince. You can either cut these in half and remove the core, dice into 1/2” cubes, or cut in 1/4” thick slices for a spiral pattern.
Stonefruit, like peaches, apricots, nectarines, and cherries. You can cut the fruit in half, cut side down, or arrange in 1/4” slices in a spiral pattern.
Citrus, like orange, lemon, grapefruit, or lime. Use the whole fruit, sliced very thinly (1/8”).
Berries, like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and grapes. Smaller fruits can be left whole, otherwise slice in half with the cut side down.
Tropical fruits, like bananas and pineapples.
Native plants like elderberry and serviceberry (Saskatoon berry). These are generally quite small and can be left whole.
Whole wheat flour is delicious when fresh, but it can go rancid, meaning the fat within the germ reacts with oxygen, within 30 days of milling. This makes it taste pretty gnarly, which is why many people dislike whole wheat foods.
In general, I recommend:
Buy smaller bags of whole wheat flour more often
If you buy quantities larger than you can use within 30 days, store your whole wheat flour in the freezer in an airtight container
Look for the milling date if there is one and use within 30 days of the processing date
Buy from a local, small mill if you can. They have higher turnover and it’s likely processed with fewer chemicals (you’ll have to ask them). Industrial whole wheat may also be reconstituted from component parts of wheat, instead of actual whole wheat.
If you can find heritage wheat flour from varieties like Red Fife, Amber Wheat, Spelt, or Kamut they add tremendous depth of flavor
You can use white flour, but take care not to develop too much gluten when stirring the batter.
You can customize the spices to the fruit and the season:
Swap (or supplement) the cinnamon with cardamom
Swap (or supplement) the vanilla extract for 1/4 tsp almond extract which goes particularly well with stone fruit (almonds are in the same family, prunus, as stonefruit).
You can make this dairy-free by using olive oil:
Swap the butter for olive oil, and yogurt for cashew yogurt or coconut milk
Instead of creaming the butter, start by whipping the eggs and sugar for 3-4 minutes until pale and fluffy
Slowly stream in the olive oil while stirring constantly. If you’ve ever made mayonnaise, this is the same process.
Olive oil pairs really well with citrus and stonefruit
If you don’t like the strong flavor you can use grapeseed oil