A lusciously fancy looking end of summer deliciously moist yogurt cake topped with juicy, sun-ripened plums that deceptively quick and easy to make!
Why this Recipe Works
- No fancy equipment needed! The cake batter quickly and easily comes together with a bowl and whisk.
- Enhanced flavor! Browning the butter results in a rich, nutty taste and greater depth of flavor in our cake.
- Recipe is versatile! Can be topped with any other stone fruit.
- Falls in that magic intersection of looks highly impressive but is super easy to make!
It’s a whole wide plum world out there! Any kind of plums can be used or try and combo… I’m dreaming of an ombre plum upside-down cake with all the different kinds of plums coming soon!
How to Make this Recipe
Slice your plums. Brown your butter. Pour butter into pan and arrange plums, in a single layer, covering the bottom of the cake pan. I try to not leave many gaps so this can take a bit of trial an error. Think of arranging plums like roof top shingles and you can cut up pieces smaller to fill in any gaps. And a teeny tiny bit of layering is alrighty too!
Cooks Tip
- Definitely wait for the butter to turn a toasty brown color… those few minutes of heat really do make a significantly delicious taste difference!
- Buy local and organic plums when possible! Choose whichever kind looks best at the farmers market.
- Flip cake over while it’s still hot! It will be much more difficult to do if you let it cool completely!
Recipe below is inspired from Half Baked Harvest and the Food Collective.
Stoked on more Upside-Down Cakes? Check out my Upside-Down Rhubarb Cake and my Upside-Down Winter Citrus Cake!
Have ya tried this recipe? I’d love to hear about it and see it too! Please leave a comment below and take a pic and tag it on Instagram with #chefdanielagerson. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see more colorfully delicious food and all sorts of awesome adventures!
Let’s make waves in the kitchen!
Plum Upside-Down Cake
Ingredients
- 6 plums any variety or a combo
- 1 cup brown sugar divided
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup white flour
- 1/2 cup fine-ground cornmeal or sub whole wheat or white flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 3 eggs whites seperated from yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 lemon, zested
For the Tooping
- 3 or more tablespoons of Greek yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla paste or sub vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon pistachios chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Arrange the plums in a single layer on the bottom of a spring form pan. Sprinkle the plums with 1/4 cup of the brown sugar.
- Melt the butter slowly over medium heat, until its smells nutty, swirling the pan occasionally. Butter will foam and froth then turn brown, with brown bits sticking to the botton of the pan. Pour browned butter, including bits at the botton of the pan, over the plums. Place plums in oven for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk all your dry ingredients: flour(s), cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In another bowl whisk all the wet ingredients together, except for the egg whites. Thats the egg yolks, olive oil, yogurt, vanilla and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together well.
- Whisk the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Slowly fold the egg whites into the batter until just combined.
- Pour the batter over the plums, trying to spread in an even(ish) layer. Bake about 50-55min, until the the cake is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool just slightly, then place a serving plate over the top and carefully turn over so the plums are on top.
- For the maple vanilla yogrut: mix these three ingredients together. Add a dollop on the cake. Top with pistachios. Can serve with remaining yogurt. Enjoy warm or at room temp.
Notes
- Definitely wait for the butter to turn a toasty brown color… those few minutes of heat really do make a significantly delicious taste difference!
- Buy local and organic plums when possible! Choose whichever kind looks best at the farmers market.
- Flip cake over while it’s still hot! It will be much more difficult to do if you let it cool completely!
Seriously the most delicious summer dessert.
So easy, refreshing and beautiful to look at.
Thanks chefdanielagerson for sharing this yummieee recipe👍👍😘🙏💜
Absolute pleasure!!! I'll make it on Sat so you can have it then too :)! Thanks so much for the super sweet words!
It was good. You left out where the second half of the sugar is supposed to go. I was following the instructions and didn't realized this until I was ready to fold in the egg whites. By this point, it was too late to add the sugar to the batter so I had to improvise and used maple syrup instead. I like maple syrup but am not crazy about it in this recipe, lol. If I make this again, I would add more plums (personal preference).
Really appreciate you taking the time to leave my feedback + will go back and update the recipe with the second half of the sugar! Will also try making it with more plums + thanks again!