After my recent visit to Babbo I was obsessed with the blueberry upside-down cake that I had for dessert. So when I went blueberry picking and ended up with a TON of blueberries I knew that I wanted to make something similar.
After searching high and low for the exact recipe I ended up finding this recipe from Bon App. It hit on the elements of the cake that I had at Babbo that I ordered — bluberry topping, almond cake — so I figured it was worth a try.
I was a bit nervous about making the upside-down portion of the cake because I’ve done that before with not so great results. This time I was smarter and didn’t use a springform pan and just used a regular square baking pan.
When it came down to making the cake part I realized that I didn’t know what almond paste was OR where to buy it. It did however sound like the type of thing that I could just make myself. So I did! I used this recipe that I found on a blog. I didn’t have almond extract so I used a bit of vanilla extract instead (note to self: learn how to make almond extract). Totally easy and probably a lot cheaper than buying almond paste. The rest of the cake was easy enough to assemble, especially with the use of my stand mixer! Pure love.
While the cake didn’t look GORGEOUS in the end it did taste delicious. The combination of blueberries and lemons was lovely with the almond-based cake. I did have a bit of trouble getting all of the topping out but once I slapped it back together it all was just fine.
Did this rival the dessert I had at Babbo? Not quite but it was a good substitution to fulfill my craving AND use up some freshly picked blueberries.
Lemon and Blueberry Upside-Down Cake
Blueberry topping
3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
Blueberry topping
3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
Lemon-almond butter cake
3/4 cup cake flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 ounces almond paste (scant 1/2 cup), broken into small pieces
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon peel
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, room temperature
3 large eggs, room temperature
Lemon slices (optional)
Lemon peel curls (optional)
Additional fresh blueberries
Lemon Whipped Cream
For blueberry topping:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine brown sugar and butter in 8-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides (preferably nonstick). Place cake pan over medium heat and whisk constantly until butter and sugar melt and mixture is smooth and bubbling. Using pot holders, remove pan from heat; cool 15 minutes. Sprinkle blueberries evenly over.
For lemon-almond butter cake:
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Combine almond paste, sugar, and lemon peel in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until almond paste is broken into very small pieces, about 1 minute. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, beating until mixture is smooth and scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well and scraping sides of bowl after each addition. Add flour mixture and beat just until batter is smooth. Spoon batter in dollops over blueberries in pan; spread evenly with offset spatula to smooth.
Bake cake until deep golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 43 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 1 minute. Run small knife around cake to loosen. Place large platter atop pan. Using oven mitts or potholders and using both hands, hold platter and cake pan firmly together and invert; shake gently, allowing cake to settle on platter. Cool at least 20 minutes.
Garnish cake with lemon slices and lemon peel curls, if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature with additional blueberries and Lemon Whipped Cream.
Bon Appétit
April 2006
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This looks delicious to me!!