Tuesday, September 14, 2010

TWD: Upside-down cake, two ways

This week's selection was one of my favourites. Cake is my favourite thing to bake, and with lots of extra butter and sugar, plus fresh fruit, this was a huge winner. It was so good that I had to make it twice. The first time I used peaches and we ate it up in no time. The cake was light, yet very moist and the buttery, caramel-drenched fruit was a bonus. The only changes I made to this recipe were to omit the cinnamon, as I usually do, and use brown sugar instead of white for the caramel. I also added some grated fresh ginger in the cake, and the sharpness went perfectly with the fruit. Then I went for a walk in my mother's backyard and discovered the rhubarb that I had cut down in the spring had sprouted again, yielding 2 kilograms! I made one more cake, spiced with orange zest, and froze the rest. Now I can enjoy it all winter, though I'll try to resist posting any more rhubarb recipes till spring.
This week's recipe was chosen by Sabrina over at Superfluous. She'll have the recipe on her site, most likely for the original cranberry version. I think you could use lots of different seasonal fruit here, and I know that this is now my go-to upside-down cake.


17 comments:

chocolatechic said...

I too, used brown sugar in the topping.

I also went with the standard pineapple for the fruit, as I didn't have any cranberries or peaches.

Peggy said...

I think the brown sugar sounds delicious. Wasn't this just the perfect sized cake. We ate it all quickly too. Love yours.

Anonymous said...

That rhubarb cake loks so interesting. Yum!

Cakelaw said...

Wowee, both of these look wonderful! 2kg of rhubarb is a problem I'd like to have. I love the way you laid it out in stripes on top of the cake.

Sabrina said...

Both of your cakes are beautiful! I love how the rhubarb stripes look!!

GratefulPrayerThankfulHeart said...

Your cakes looks delicious! Great variations ~ I would like to try both :)

Di said...

Both versions look delicious! I love the way you did the rhubarb. Peach and ginger is a great combination. I did plum and cranberry, and added cardamom. I want to try brown sugar next time.

Hindy said...

That rhubarb cake has a very modern look to it. Glad both your cakes turned out so well!

Cindy said...

Those are good looking cakes. I have a rhubarb plant that is still going strong. I will have to try it!

Valerie Gamine said...

I had a feeling that you would go with the rhubarb on this one. :-)

Mary, your pictures are stunning! And I love that you added ginger too. Yum!

Flourchild said...

At first glance I thought that rhubarb was bacon! I was thinking..gross! What great looking cake..it's so moist looking! I love your plate too.
I used cherries!

Tia said...

both versions look wonderful. I like the rhubarb sliced cake picture - those diagonal lines running down it - really pretty. I did a White Peach version.

Jeannette said...

Oooh, a rhubarb version sounds interesting. although i must admit it looks like a celery cake ;) maybe tossing in sliced strawberries would make for a great spring treat?

Nichicakes said...

Oh i bet that rhubarb was so good!

Judy said...

Great variations on your cakes. I'm looking forward to cranberry season so I can make this cake again.

Paula said...

Your cake--I mean the actual cake part--looks so light and tender. Wonderful, actually. I'm not much of a rhubarb fan, but I love the way you arranged it.

Jencrafted said...

Rhubarb! Excellent version! I love the look of your cake. Great job