Plum & Orange Upside Down Cake

What to do, when you have a punnet of beautifully coloured but fairly tasteless plums and a couple of elderly oranges, in the fridge? Why, make an upside down cake, of course.

This basic recipe would work for lots of different fruit combinations, for instance rhubarb & orange, apple and spice, peach and vanilla .. your choices are only limited by what fruit you've got!

I have used both the unsalted butter that is in the recipe and Stork baking margarine for this cake and both have worked as well as one another, so it is a very forgiving and adaptable recipe. Everyone needs at least one sponge cake recipe that is pretty much guaranteed to deliver good results - and this is definitely one of those. 

PLUM & ORANGE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE (makes 12 pieces)

Ingredients :

175g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 large eggs
175g caster sugar
175g softened unsalted butter
12 small plums, stoned and halved
2 medium oranges, zested and juiced
1 tsp icing sugar

Method :

Pre-heat your oven to 180degC/350degF/Gas 4.

Line your baking tin with greaseproof or parchment paper, making sure enough overlaps so that you can lift the cake out, once baked.

Place the plum halves, cut side down and in an even layer, onto the paper.

Measure out the flour and baking powder and using a sieve, sift into a large bowl.

Now simply add all the other ingredients (apart from the orange juice & icing sugar, which is for the drizzle once the cake is baked) to the bowl and whisk everything together until you have a smooth, well-combined mixture of dropping consistency. Provided the butter is good and soft, this shouldn't take longer than a couple of minutes.

Spoon the mixture into the baking tin - taking care not to disturb the plum halves - and level the top. Place the tin gently into the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes to cook - but don't open the oven door to check it until at least 25 minutes have elapsed.

You will know when the cake is done by touching the centre of the cake lightly. If your finger leaves no impression - and the cake springs back - it has finished baking.

Stir the icing sugar into the orange juice.

Place the tin onto a cooling rack and, with a silicone brush, brush the orange juice onto the surface of the cake. It will be absorbed easily as the cake is still hot.

Leave the cake in the tin until the orange juice has been absorbed and the surface has dried sufficiently to be just tacky.

Place a plate over the top of the tin and with a quick flip, turn everything upside down. Lift the tin off and carefully remove the paper. If any plums stick to the paper, gently scrape them off with a palette knife and replace them back into the hole they came from.

Leave the cake to finally cool and try not to eat it all at once!

Printable version

When the cake muse descends - Cherry & Coconut Loaf

Complete with sulking cherries

I have had the cake muse sitting quite firmly on my shoulder for some days now.  Each time I looked into the pantry cupboard and my eye lit upon the tub of glace cherries, she'd give my hair a little tug and say "See?  They're still there!".

So, inevitably, something had to be done.

I pondered on a cake involving lime - as I'd been sent a little booklet all about limes by Brazilian Fruit just recently.  That wouldn't do though, as it dawned on me that I'd included two dishes on the menu list that used lime (Spicy Chicken & Salad, plus Pork & Pepper Stir Fry), which would use up the two limes I had in.  Self-imposed rules about not shopping in between regular shopping trips meant I had no hope of replacing said limes, either.

I pondered on a cake utilizing Amaretto.  This seemed like a jolly good idea, to me.  Right up until I realised that we were out of ground almonds.  *sigh*  Self-imposed rules as above would apply in this case, too.

So that brought me back to the cause of all this cake fuss - the glace cherries.  During a visual sweep of the pantry cupboard, I noticed a bag of dessicated coconut - and the Cherry & Coconut idea was born.

I had previously used a recipe from Saint Delia, however often found that the cherries would lie sulking at the bottom of the cake mix, instead of being borne aloft like the little jewels that they were.  I had put this down to the fact that the cake mix always came up a little soft, so investigated other recipes and settled on the following incredibly easy one.  Suffice to say that even with a dusting of flour, the majority of the cherries still insisted on sitting sulking at the bottom (maybe I just buy sulky cherries?) but one or two had the right attitude and had taken off, to float cheerily towards the surface.  Hooray for them and their like!

CHERRY & COCONUT LOAF CAKE

Ingredients :

250g self-raising flour
175g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
2 tbsp milk (I used semi-skimmed)
150g glace cherries, a mix of halved and whole
60g dessicated coconut.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 180degC/Gas mark 4.

2.  Sift the flour into a bowl and add the butter, sugar, eggs and milk and beat until creamy and smooth.

3.  Fold the cherries and coconut into the mixture.

4.  Spoon into a loaf tin that has been lined with baking paper and level the surface.

5.  Sprinkle with a little sugar and some coconut.

6.  Bake in the centre of the oven for some 45 mins to 1hr.  I would be inclined to check the cake after some 35 minutes and put a silver foil hat on it if the top appears to be well browned, as mine was just starting to catch at 45 minutes.

7.  If a skewer comes out clean, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes or so, before placing on a cooling rack and removing the baking paper.

All you have to do then, is count the hours until tea time!

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Boiled Fruit Loaf

I came home from work on Thursday, walked in to the house which was full of the smell of fruit cake.  Ooooh, delicious! The Artisan Bagel Baker had broadened his scope and made a cake.

Now I have to say, that this isn't the first cake hubby has made - he's quite an accomplished baker of cakes.  He makes a lovely ginger cake and his lemon drizzle is legendary.

However, there's just something so autumnal about a fruit cake - and this one goes perfectly with some of the Lake District Cheddar cheese.

BOILED FRUIT LOAF

Ingredients

100g sultanas
100g flame raisins (or dried cherries, or dried cranberries or a.n other dried fruit)
1 eating apple, peeled and grated
250ml semi-skimmed milk
200g light muscovado or other light brown sugar
125g baking margarine or butter
1 beaten egg
250g self raising flour
half a tsp ground cinnamon
half a tsp ground mixed spice.

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C (fan).

2.  Put the dried fruit, grated apple, milk, sugar, margarine and spices into a large pan and bring to a simmer.  Simmer for 2 mins and then remove from the heat to cool for 15 mins.

3.  Once cooled, fold in the flour and mix well.  Add the egg and then mix again.

4.  Pour into a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin and bake for 1 hour 15 mins (a paper hat may be needed over the loaf tin to prevent the top from overcooking).  Test with a skewer, returning to the oven for another 10 mins if the skewer comes out with batter on it.

5. Once the skewer comes out clean, leave to cool.

NOTE :  this recipe produces a very moist cake, if a drier texture is needed, increase the baking time by 20 mins and make sure a paper hat is used.