The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
A summertime treat
Try Stone Fruit Almond Upside-Down Cake
This recipe for Stone Fruit Almond UpsideDown Cake works equally well using any kind of stone fruit or a mix of every kind of stone fruit, including plums, apricots, nectarines, peaches and plumcots.
The appeal of the mixedfruit version — the rainbowlike beauty of the unmolded cake in concert with the rich chord of its flavors — edges out the monochrome visuals and taste of a cake made with just one kind of fruit.
I have specified using firm ripe fruit for this recipe. If the fruit is very ripe, it’ll be too ripe — mushy and difficult to slice.
However, very firm unripened fruit will work well, too. Baking those guys simultaneously tenderizes them and amps up their flavor.
The only hurdle when cooking with stone fruit is de-stoning it. The best way to do the job is to slice around the natural seam, preferably with a serrated knife. Then you twist the two halves apart to expose the pit, much as you would with an avocado. Lastly you pluck out the pit with your fingers, if it’s loose enough, or scoop it out with the aid of a melon baller. Now it’s easy to rest the two halves flat on the counter and slice them into wedges.
The heart of this recipe’s allure hinges on the contrast between the fruit’s tartness and the cake’s sweetness.
That sweetness resides in the almond paste, so be sure not to use marzipan, which is much more sugary and would make the cake cloyingly sweet.
This cake is a cinch to throw together using a mixer, but the ingredients should all be at room temperature to develop the proper texture.
If you’re able to prepare
and serve this cake while it’s still hot, your guests will really be wowed, but it’s plenty tasty at room temperature, too. Either
way, don’t forget to top it off with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Sara Moulton is host of
public television’s “Sara’s Weeknight Meals.” She was executive chef at Gourmet magazine for nearly 25 years and spent a decade hosting several Food Network shows, including “Cooking Live.” Her latest cookbook is “HomeCooking 101.”