Upside Down Plum Cake

This Upside Down Plum Cake recipe features a moist and tender cake base topped with juicy and sweet plum slices and passionfruit, all baked to perfection and flipped upside down for a stunning presentation.

The best trick with this dish is that there’s a secret ingredient in it…passionfruit. The gloriously underrated passionfruit comes to play with plums in something I’ve not seen often in recipes. 

Growing up with a German mother meant that yeasted (I don't think that's a word, but I'm rolling with it) plum cake was made every summer and we didn’t often eat it any other way in baking. It felt a little weird, in fact, to make this cake which feels so different from how I know this fruit.

I'm not sure how she gathered the energy to bake in the middle of summer, but fruit doesn't wait around, in fact, the surplus that always comes from food in the summer is basically asking to be turned into anything and everything and so here we are with an upside down cake. What is your go to use for summer produce?

Ingredients and substitutions for Upside Down Plum Cake

• Plain flour: Plain flour or all purpose is best because it helps give the cake it’s light texture and nice crumb. You also don’t want to overwork the batter so you don’t end up with a firm cake texture.
• Almond meal: Ground almonds or almond flour might be what you refer to as what is called almond meal here. Finely ground almonds create a beautiful and soft texture to our cake.
• Polenta: Fine ground cornmeal polenta adds a slightly different texture to the cake alongside the almond meal. You could replace in equal measure with almond meal here, though this hasn't been attempted so the final result is not clear.
• Butter: Unsalted butter is used here though salted could easily be substituted in place. For the cake you’ll definitely want it your butter to be room temperature as it creates a nice fluffy foundation. You could definitely substitute with non dairy butter.
• Sugar: As a result of using superfine or caster sugar, the nice fine granules dissolve into our cake and add sweetness without adding additional flavors to the cake.
• Eggs: The eggs add structure and bind everything together and are the core to our cake.
• Plums: Fresh were used here and are best because they aren’t too sweet. If you can obtain frozen plums, these would also work.
• Passionfruit: Fresh passionfruit was used as it's easiest to homemake the syrup. Though you could simply replace with a store-bought version or omit, if preferred.

See recipe card for quantities.

How to make Upside Down Plum Cake:

Step 1: Make that syrup: The passionfruit syrup is simmered and created and pour into the base of your cake tin, spreading evenly.

Step 2: Lay em out: Lay the sliced plums on top of the syrup in the base of your cake tin.

Step 3: Whip it: Beat the butter and sugar until combined.

Step 4: Yogurt and dry: Add the eggs and beat and then the Greek yogurt before tossing in the dry ingredients and whipping until combined.

Step 5: Batter up and bake: Spoon the cake batter on top of the plums, smoothing out. Baking until golden.

Step 6: Invert: Invert the cake onto a plate and set aside to cool fully.

Step 7: Serve: Slice and serve with a little whipped cream or spoonful of yogurt.

FAQ's for the best Upside Down Plum Cake

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Upside Down Plum Cake

Sylvie Taylor

Upside Down Plum Cake recipe includes punchy passionfruit works beautifully with finely sliced plums and a light cake with almond flour and polenta to make this upside down cake a modern version of an old classic.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Servings 10

Calories 210 kcal

Ingredients

  

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Syrup

• 60 milliliters / ¼ cup water
• 50 grams / ¼ cup superfine/caster sugar
• ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 passionfruit pulp

Cake

• 65 grams / 2.3 ounces butter room temperature
• 125 grams / ⅔ cup superfine/caster sugar
• 110 grams / 2 large eggs room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon sea or kosher salt salt
• 71 grams / ¼ cup Greek yogurt
• 50 grams / ½ cup almond flour
• 120 grams / ¾ cup plain flour
• 40 grams / ¼ cup polenta
• 4 grams / 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 grams / ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 300 grams / ⅔ pound plums sliced into ⅛ slices and pit removed

Instructions

 

Syrup

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and greaseproof your cake tin.
• To make the syrup, place the water, sugar and ground cardamom into a saucepan on medium heat, until the sugar has dissolved, and the syrup has simmered for approximately 3 minutes.
• Add the passionfruit pulp and allow to simmer for a further 3 minutes until slightly thickened.
• Pour the syrup into your cake tin and smooth out evenly across the base of your tin.
• Lay the sliced plums down into the syrup around the entire base of your cake tin. Set aside.

Cake

• Meanwhile, place the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat until combined, approximately 2 minutes with a hand beater.
• Add the eggs and whip until well combined and fluffy, a further 2 minutes with a hand beater.
• Toss in the Greek yogurt and vanilla extract and fold until well combined and smooth.
• Add the almond flour, polenta, plain flour, baking soda and baking powder to the wet ingredients and fold through until the batter is smooth.
• Pour the cake batter on top of the plums and spread out evenly, tapping the base of the cake tin to ensure bubbles have been removed from the batter.
• Place in the oven and bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown on top and a skewer comes out clean in the center.
• Remove and allow to cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto a plate.
• Allow to cool.
• Slice and serve with a spoonful of whipped cream or Greek yogurt.
• Dig in!

Notes

• Plums: Fresh were used here and are best because they aren’t too sweet. If you can obtain frozen plums, these would also work.
• Passionfruit: Fresh passionfruit was used as it's easiest to homemake the syrup. Though you could simply replace with a store-bought version or omit, if preferred.
• Almond meal: Ground almonds or almond flour might be what you refer to as what is called almond meal here. Finely ground almonds create a beautiful and soft texture to our cake.
• Polenta: Fine ground cornmeal polenta adds a slightly different texture to the cake alongside the almond meal. You could replace in equal measure with almond meal here, though this hasn't been attempted so the final result is not clear.
• Cake tin: A 20 cm / 8 inches cake tin was used, however, a standard cake tin of similar size would also work well.

Recipe by Roamingtaste

Nutrition

Calories: 210kcal

Keyword almond baking, cake, stone fruit, summerdessert

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