Raspberry Upside-down Cake

Wotchers!

Who doesn’t love an upside-down cake?

Well, truth be told, me, actually – until I met this one!

Whenever I think of an upside down cake, its always been pineapple, and due to the huge number of vintage recipe books I read, it always appears in my mind as being made with pineapple from a tin, and gaudy, startlingly red glacé cherries in the holes in the middles of the slices. Now whether it is the sweet tinned pinapple (not a fan), the glacé cherries (really not a fan), the sweet-on-sweet-on-sweet or the whole 1950s vibe, it just doesn’t look appealing to me.

Sidebar: surprisingly, a quick internet image search reveals that the pineapple ring/cherry thing appears to still be going strong in the 21st century. Who’da thunk.

Anyhoo…

I’ve adapted this recipe from one I found in a booklet of Breton recipes I snapped up at one of the French brocantes we wandered through this summer. Made with fresh raspberries, the sharp flavour of the soft, gently baked fruit is a great contrast with the sweet, lemon sponge. ( See also Fruit Sponge). Add cream – single, double, clotted or fraiche – if you like, but I really enjoy this as is.

Confession: OK, so in essence I really only changed the shape of the tin, the cooking time and added some filled fresh raspberries on the top for presentation. The original recipe recommended a 24cm circular tin and a shorter cooking time, but after the notorious Pacman photo of July, I’ve been a bit twitchy about using circular tins.

Sidebar 2: This is not a pretty, pretty cake. Behold, Exhibit A.

It is, however, delicious, simple to make and a perfect treat to enjoy those autumn-ripening raspberries that are a little too squishy to turn into jam.

Raspberry Upside-Down Cake

750g raspberries – divided
4tbs caster sugar

3 large eggs – separated
125g caster sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon
125g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
100g unsalted butter

4tbs seedless raspberry jam
icing sugar

• Grease and line the base and sides of your chosen tin with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper. I used a long, narrow IKEA loaf tin but you could opt for the original 24cm round tin.
• Pick out about 200g of the best raspberries for decoration. Set aside.
• Add 450-500g fresh raspberries to the tin. Sprinkle with the 4tbs caster sugar.
• Cut the butter into 2cm cubes and put into hand-temperature water to soften.
• Heat the oven to 200°C, 180°C Fan.
• Whisk the egg-whites to stiff peaks.
• Whisk the yolks and the remaining caster sugar together until pale and fluffy – about 5 minutes.
• Add the lemon zest and juice and mix in.
• Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the egg mixture gradually, ensuring the flour is fully mixed in.
• Using a balloon whisk – or the whisk attachment of your stand mixer – stir in one third of the egg-whites to the egg mixture to lighten the mix, then gently fold in the remainder.
• Drain the water from the butter and fold the softened butter into the mixturewith the whisk.
• Pour the mixture over the raspberries and spread smooth.
• Bake until the sponge is risen and cooked. This takes 40-45 minutes in a loaf tin. If you chose a 24cm round tin, the recipe suggests 25 minutes, but use your own checks to confirm the cake is cooked through.
• When cooked, remove from the oven and set on a cooling rack. Allow the cake to cool in the tin before turning out onto your serving dish/plate and removing the baking parchment.

To decorate

• Spoon the jam into a piping bag and snip of the end to give a 3-4mm opening.
• Pipe a little jam into the hollow cores of the remaining raspberries.
• Arrange the filled raspberries over the top of the cake and dust with icing suger to serve.