With shining yellow rings in the rose of neon red cherries, pineapple upside down cake is a beloved American dessert: homey, nostalgic, bold geometric. Since the recipe became popular in the 1920s, it has become so entrenched in our confectioner’s consciousness that an upside-down cake made with something else seems like just an afterthought.
But other fruits – juicy summer peaches, apricots, plums and nectarines; mounds of purple berries; velvety bananas — can make upside-down pies just as good or even better than the usual pineapple. And they’re just what you need to bake right now, especially if you’re wondering what to do with that profusion of drupes and berries that are leaking sticky nectar all over your kitchen island.
Inverted cakes don’t need the pristine fruit you’d want for a shortcake or pie. It doesn’t matter how wrinkled your peaches or saggy blueberries, once caramelized and batter-baked, they become syrupy and colorful, a glistening crown with no further embellishment.
Just as essential as an inverted cake’s ability to use withered fruit is its convenience. The batter is a cinch to whip in one bowl, making it quicker and easier than a pie or galette crust. Then you can bake the cake in the same skillet you used for the fruit — perfect for rental properties where kitchen equipment is scarce, the parchment paper does not exist.
If you’re baking, you’d be following in the footsteps of a long line of pastry chefs, who flipped fruity desserts for centuries before piling sunny rings of pineapple in cans.
The most famous example, the true queen of all topsy-turvy desserts, is the French tatin cake. Created in the 19th century by sisters Stephanie and Caroline Tatin at their hotel in the Loire Valley, it was based on an even older French tradition of apple upside down cakes. Made from apples caramelized in sugar and then baked under a puff pastry, both treats are similar to an entire genre of inverted apple pancakes, including the crepe-like sanciaux (also from France), called German apple pancakes Apple pancakes and colonial American apple pieall of which consist of a simple pancake batter that covers the fruit, rather than a crust.
In the 18th- and 19th-century United States, cakes were often cooked in skillets over hot coals, making them accessible to Americans without ovens. Simmering fruit in a syrup or in butter in the pan before adding the batter was a common practice. Whether the cake was eventually turned over to serve or served straight from the pan, the concept of caramelized fruit and cake was the same (although much nicer when turned on a serving platter).
One of the earliest recipes called “upside-down cake” was published in the now-defunct Syracuse Herald in 1923. Plums were the fruit in question, arranged over brown sugar and butter, and speckled with walnuts. Other versions, with apricots and pitted sour cherries, were also fashionable in the early 20th century.
Pineapple became the go-to in 1926 when Dole sponsored a recipe contest. There were 60,000 entries; 2500 were for a version of inverted pineapple cake.
Pineapple has remained on top of the reverse heap ever since. In my twist on the classic, I mixed in the cherries, replaced fresh pineapple with canned, and added pecans for texture. (I also used nuts in my banana variant, which has bananas foster-ish vibes, but with the cheery bonus of some cake and a crunch.)
While the reverse cake recipe is simple, there are some best practices for the most tender crumb and a fruit topping that is just sweet enough without being sticky.
The first is to caramelize the sugar before adding the fruit. Many vintage recipes skip this step in favor of simplicity, instead just melting the butter and sprinkling the sugar on top. While this works, it results in a neutral sweetness with a muted caramel character.
Caramelizing the sugar deeply before adding the fruit tempers it, creating a mild bitterness and adding layers of nutty complexity, and it only takes a few minutes. Don’t worry if the sugar clumps and sticks, it will melt again when you bake the cake and become silky smooth.
Another tip is to bake the cake longer than a regular butter cake. This is due to the moisture in the fruit, especially stone fruit and berries, which have a high water content which can cause the crumb to become soggy. The cake surface should be well browned all over, with dark edges giving a slight crunch. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out with no crumbs.
Always let your cake rest for about 10 to 15 minutes before inverting it onto a platter to allow both fruit and caramel to set a bit. But don’t let it sit any longer, otherwise the caramel may cool and the fruit may stick to the pan. Of course you can always take it out and put it back on the cake. Then slice, serve, and get ready to fall head over heels for an upside-down cake.
Recipes: Pineapple upside down cake with pecan nuts | Peach upside down cake | Berry upside down cake | Banana upside down cake