This Upside Down Plum Cake recipe features a moist and tender cake base topped with juicy and sweet plum slices and passionfruit for a stunning presentation that is ideal for every day baking or special occasions.

Table of Contents
Ingredients and substitutions for Upside Down Plum Cake
- Plain flour: Plain flour or all purpose is best because it helps give the cake itโs light texture and nice crumb. You also donโt want to overwork the batter so you donโt 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 youโll definitely want your butter to be room temperature as it creates a nice fluffy foundation. You could substitute with non dairy butter.
- Sugar: The nice fine granules of superfine/caster sugar dissolve into the batter and add sweetness without adding additional flavors to the cake so is best recommended, though you could replace with white sugar or an equal mixture of superfine/caster and brown for a slightly more caramel flavor.
- Eggs: The room temperature eggs add structure and bind everything together and are the core to our cake.
- Plums: Fresh were used here and are best because they arenโt too sweet. If you can obtain frozen plums, these would also work, however, you would need to defrost and drain of excess moisture before using in the cake.
- 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: The sliced plums nice and evenly 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
If using a springform cake tin, lay aluminum foil underneath as the syrup and plum create quite a sauce which will drip whilst baking and this will keep cleanup easy.
More fruity cakes you'll enjoy
Upside Down Plum Cake
Ingredients
Syrup
- 60 milliliters / ยผ cup water
- 50 grams / ยผ cup superfine/caster sugar
- ยผ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 passionfruit pulp
Cake
- 65 grams / 2.3 ounces butter room temperature
- 125 grams / โ cup superfine/caster sugar
- 110 grams / 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ยผ teaspoon sea or kosher salt
- 71 grams / ยผ cup Greek yogurt
- 50 grams / ยฝ cup almond flour
- 120 grams / ยพ cup plain flour
- 40 grams / ยผ cup polenta
- 4 grams / 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 grams / ยฝ teaspoon baking soda
- 300 grams / โ pound plums sliced into โ 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 whip until combined, approximately 2 minutes.
- Add the eggs and whip until well combined and fluffy, a further 2 minutes.
- Spoon in the Greek yogurt and vanilla extract and fold until well combined and smooth.
- Toss in 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 arenโt too sweet. If you can obtain frozen plums, these would also work, however, you would need to defrost and drain of excess moisture before using in the cake.
- 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.
- Best kept: This is best kept covered and will be fine at room temperature for 1 day post baking before it's best to refrigerate. It will last well for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
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