Summer fruit is the best fruit! It actually makes me sad for the other seasons. I can’t enough of summer desserts made with juicy berries and stone fruits. This Cherry Plum Upside Down Cake is a celebration of ripe, delicious late summer fruits before they’re gone for the season. The combination of caramelized fruit and the tender, brown butter cake is a match made in heaven!
How to make an upside down cake
Upside down cakes became popular when it was common to make cakes in skillets. It was easy enough to put fruit and sugar at the bottom of the skillet, top it with a simple cake batter, and then invert it once it was done baking.
And that’s exactly how we’re making this Cherry Plum Upside Down Cake. Fresh cherries and plums on the bottom, cake on top, right in a cast iron skillet. Don’t worry if you don’t have a cast iron skillet. Any oven safe skillet will do the trick.
What’s in this Cherry Plum Upside Down Cake
Here is what you’ll need to make this rustic but beautiful summer dessert:
- ripe cherries and plums
- all-purpose flour
- sugar (granulated and turbinado)
- butter
- eggs
- buttermilk
- pure vanilla extract
- baking powder, baking soda and salt
Browning the butter before making the cake batter takes it to the next level. There is literally nothing as intoxicating as the aroma of butter browning in a pan. I just want to drink it.
Browning butter is simple. Just keep the heat at medium-low and gently swirl it around the pan until it starts to become aromatic. It will turn from yellow to an amber color, and that’s when you’ll know it’s done.
What kind of fruit can be used for an Upside Down Cake?
If you Google “upside down cake”, you’re going to see lots of pineapple. In fact, pineapple upside down cakes were all the rage in the 1920s, which definitely gives them that old-fashioned vibe. But in truth, you can use lots of different fruits for an upside down cake.
This brown butter batter, made so moist and tender with the help of buttermilk, will go beautifully with many kinds of fruit:
- bananas
- apples
- peaches
- berries
So go grab yourself some ripe summer fruit while you still can! You’re going to love this Cherry Plum Upside Down Cake. And if you make it, I’d love to hear about it! Drop a rating or leave a comment below. Enjoy!
For more summer dessert recipes, try these:
- Skillet Berry Cobbler with Blackberries & Blueberries
- Blueberry Bread Pudding with Cream Cheese & Brioche
- Strawberry Ice Cream Pretzel Pie
For more cake recipes, try these:
Cherry Plum Upside Down Cake
Equipment
- 1 10" oven safe skillet The skillet can be cast iron or otherwise, just be sure it is at least 2" deep.
Ingredients
- 4 black plums pitted and sliced
- 1 cup cherries pitted and halved
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup turbinado sugar
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Brown the butter in a 10" skillet over medium heat until it becomes an amber color and becomes aromatic. Use a wooden spoon to swirl the butter around the pan often.
- Pour the butter into a mixing bowl, leaving a coating in the skillet. To the mixing bowl, add buttermilk, eggs, granulated sugar and vanilla. Beat until combined.
- Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Slowly beat into the wet ingredients until combined.
- Sprinkle 1/4 cup turbinado sugar evenly into the skillet. Arrange the sliced plums and cherries in an overlapping pattern. Sprinkle the fruit with another 1/4 cup turbinado sugar. Pour the batter over the fruit. Sprinkle the batter with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar.
- Bake 45 minutes. Cool completely before inverting onto a serving plate.
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