Backyard Citrus Upside Down Cake Recipes

CITRUS UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

Steps:

• Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush an 8-inch square pan with 2-inch-high sides with butter. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter with sugar and zest on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and sour cream, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture.
• Topping: With a sharp knife, slice ends off each citrus. Following curve of fruit, cut away peel, removing as much white pith as possible. Slice fruit crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, and remove any seeds. In a small bowl, stir together butter, sugar, and rum. Spread mixture over bottom of prepared pan. Arrange sliced citrus over it in a snug, slightly overlapping even layer (cut some to fit into corners).
• Spread batter over citrus. Bake until cake is golden and puffed and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool 30 minutes. Invert onto a cake plate; serve the same day, warm or room temperature.

UPSIDE-DOWN CITRUS OMBRE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• For the citrus: Slice the Meyer lemons into 1/4-inch-thick wheels, then trim the wheels into even squares (about 1 1/2 inches in size). Repeat with the navel oranges, tangerines, Cara Cara oranges, grapefruits and blood oranges. Line the cut citrus pieces on a baking sheet in a single layer. Set aside.
• For the glaze: Place the granulated sugar, brown sugar, butter and water into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat; simmer until the sugars dissolve. Pour the mixture into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and, using a pastry brush, brush over the entire surface.
• Starting with blood oranges and beginning at the top right corner of the baking dish, tightly line the blood orange pieces side by side, with the corners at the top, bottom and sides so you have a row of diamonds, not squares. Repeat, fitting the second row tightly into the gaps from the first row. Repeat with remaining citrus, going from dark to light and creating 2 rows for each type, until the entire baking dish is filled. Cut the remaining citrus diamonds in half and place into the edges of the dish to fill in the remaining gaps around the border. Set aside.
• For the buttermilk cake: Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk together. In another mixing bowl, combine the butter and granulated sugar and beat together with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat together. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat together. Add the buttermilk and beat together until a thick batter forms with no lumps. Stir the vanilla and citrus zest into the batter until just combined.
• Pour the cake batter over the arranged citrus in the baking dish and spread around until you have an even layer. Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake and the top is golden brown. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes.
• Place a cutting board or large platter upside down over the top of the baking dish and quickly but carefully invert the cake. Carefully lift the baking dish from the cake to reveal the ombre top. Slice and serve.

BACKYARD CITRUS UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

Steps:

• Position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan and line it with parchment paper.
• Start by making the upside-down layer:
• In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Remove the pan from the heat and add ½ cup of the sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. Whisk the mixture until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is glossy and thickened a little. Pour the melted butter and sugar into the prepared cake pan and smooth into an even layer to cover the bottom. Place the cake pan in the freezer until the butter and sugar layer freezes; leave the pan in the freezer until you are ready to transfer the batter to the pan.
• In a small bowl, gently toss the lemon slices with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Leave the lemon slices in the sugar to macerate for 10 minutes.
• While the upside-down layer freezes, make the cake batter:
• Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Set aside. Combine the eggs with the olive oil in another large bowl and beat vigorously with a whisk until well combined. Add the yogurt and sugar. Make a well in the flour mixture and add the wet mixture in three additions, folding in each addition until no dry bits of flour remain. Set aside.
• Fan the lemon slices out to cover the melted butter and sugar in the cake pan, overlapping the slices by as much as 1⁄8 inch. Pour the cake batter directly on top of the lemon slices.
• Bake for about 1 hour, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a serving plate and carefully remove the parchment-paper lining. Allow the cake to cool for 1 hour more before serving.
• Note: This cake can be made with nearly any citrus, my favorite being lemon because I like it to be bitter and tart. The only citrus I would not use is raw grapefruit, oro blanco, or lime. The rinds of grapefruit and oro blanco are much thicker than lemons and oranges and they will take longer to bake. Lime and grapefruit also retain too much of the bitter quinine flavor and will make for an odd-tasting cake

UPSIDE-DOWN CITRUS CAKE

Steps:

• For the topping: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a 9-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
• Use a fine grater to zest 1 teaspoon zest from each of the citruses (for a total of 1 tablespoon zest). Reserve the zest for the cake.
• Cut the top and bottom off of each citrus and place them with a flat side on the cutting board. Then, following the curve of the fruit, use a sharp knife to cut off the peels and as much of the white pith as possible. Slice the fruit crosswise into 1/4-inch thick rounds; carefully remove any seeds.
• Combine the butter and sugars in a small saucepan and warm over medium-low heat until melted. Pour into the prepared cake pan and spread evenly. Top with the citrus rounds so that they fit very snugly and are slightly overlapping (you may not use every slice). Drizzle with the orange liqueur, if using.
• For the cake: Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl. Put the butter, sugar and reserved zest in another bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour; mix until just combined.
• Pour the cake batter over the citrus and bake until a wooden pick inserted into the center just comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the cake and let it cool for 15 minutes, then carefully invert it onto a platter, replacing any citrus that may have stuck to the pan. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.