...and just like that, summer finally decided to make an appearance. It's sunny, hot and muggy enough to make the city feel like a giant outdoor sauna. Even so, I'm rather excited by this turn of events because it means my tomatoes will actually get around to ripening and that my cute halter tops will do more this year than just line the inside of a drawer.
To celebrate this monumental event, I figured I'd bake a cake. (that is what one does for celebrations, no?) And since peaches and blueberries are what's in season, it only seemed appropriate to use them together in my celebratory dessert - it's a combination that just screams summer in my books, after all.
This is a nice everyday sort of cake, the kind that not particularly hard to whip together, which means you can (and should!) make it even if you don't have anything in particular to celebrate. Make it because it's Tuesday... or because you finally managed to get up that morning without hitting the snooze button a dozen times... or because the sun came out from behind the clouds... or because you managed to fit into your skinny jeans today
Actually, scratch the last one. There's enough butter in here to make it a while before you can wear those skinny jeans again.
But then again.... who wants to wear their skinny jeans when it's this muggy anyway?
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Peach-Blueberry Upside Down Cake
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
This upside-down walnut cake is garnished with fresh peaches and wild blueberries. It's as easy to make as it is pretty to look at!
Ingredients
Topping
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 firm-ripe peaches, cut into ½" slices
- ½ cup fresh blueberries
Cake
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup ground walnuts
- 1 tsp each baking powder and baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 10" springform pan and wrap with foil to prevent any leakage.
- In a small bowl, stir together melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread over the bottom of prepared pan. Arrange peach slices overtop in concentric circles, leaving a little space between slices. Scatter blueberries into the spaces between the peach slices.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well between additions. Stir in yogurt, vanilla, almond extract and lemon zest.
- In a separate bowl, stir together remaining ingredients. Gradually beat into the wet ingredients, stirring until just barely combined.
- Spoon batter onto the fruit base; gently smooth out the top and spread to the edges, avoiding disturbing the peaches. Bake in preheated oven for a hour, or until top is golden and a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out with a moist crumb.
- Place the pan on a wire rack and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes. To serve the cake, run a knife along the edges to loosen, then very carefully invert onto a serving plate (don't worry if any fruit stays stuck to the pan - just replace it on the top of the cake, serve with flair and no one will be the wiser).
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Dessert
Polka_Roo says
Bella, I'm so glad you enjoyed the cake! I love the idea of sprinkling an extra layer of chopped almonds on the top of the cake for a crunchy bottom... I'm definitely going to have to give that a try next time I make this cake.
Bella Stander says
Your cake made a terrific finale to our Labor Day dinner with friends. I used chopped almond slivers instead of walnuts, and sprinkled more chopped almonds onto the top of the batter so the finished cake, when turned right-side up, had a bottom layer of crunchy toasted almonds.