Chocolate Almond Upside-Down Cake

Ingredients (Serves 8 – 10)

For the caramel topping

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup honey
1 1/4 cups sliced or slivered almonds, lightly toasted

For the cake

1 1/4 cups cake flour ( You can replace it with 1 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch/corn flour)
1/2 cup cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed ( I used Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 cup low fat yoghurt)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

1. Generously grease a 10-inch round cake pan. To make the topping, pour the melted butter into the cake pan and swirl to coat the bottom; then sprinkle in the brown sugar. Drizzle in the honey and sprinkle the almonds evenly over the bottom.

2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

3. To make the cake batter, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together three times (this is to make the cake extra light). Beat the butter in a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until smooth and fluffy. Add the sugar and mix. One at a time, add the eggs, mixing after each addition. Beat until fluffy and light, about 3 minutes. With the mixer running on low speed, add a third of the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Mix in half of the buttermilk, and then another third of the dry ingredients, before adding the remaining buttermilk. Finish with the remaining dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour the batter into the pan.

4. Bake until set in the center and springy, about 30 – 35 minutes (It took me about 40 – 45 minutes) or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and immediately invert the pan onto a serving platter. Let it sit with the pan still on top for 5 minutes so the caramel can soak into the cake a bit, before removing the pan. If the topping is sticking to the pan, warm the pan surface over a low burner to loosen the caramel and then pour it over the cake. Let cool completely. Cut into wedges with a serrated knife. This keeps at room temperature for up to 2 – 3 days.

Recipe Source – Chocolate and Vanilla by Gale Gand

Tips

1. The recipe calls for a 10 inch pan. Since I didn’t have it, I poured 3/4 th of the batter into a 9 inch pan and made 5-6 cupcakes with the rest of the batter. If you fill the batter till the top of the pan, it will overflow so make sure you leave a little space for the cake to rise.

2. Almonds can be replaced with lightly toasted walnuts, hazel nuts etc. Here’s a chocolate-walnut upside-down cake..