Welcome to my list of annual December bakes, cute lil cakes! # 322: Pistachio Upside Down Cakes

The logical side of my brain decided to make a half batch (why are there so many yummy things to bake in December??) but my inner dessert gremlin was very sad when there weren’t any left 6 hours later.

When I think of an upside down cake, pineapple immediately comes to mind. But the classic American pineapple upside down cake isn’t the only cake to wear caramelized fruit as a hat. You can use almost any fruit and top with your favorite cake batter, as long as it’s sturdy enough to withstand the moisture from the fruit. Or you can pivot to it’s French cousin, the tarte tatin, and swap out the cake for puff pastry. So many different versions and yet they all cause the baker to hold their breath and cross their fingers when it’s time to flip them over.

I was so so tempted to mix mini chocolate chips into the batter. These beauties already have two of my favorite flavor trifecta: pistachio and orange. But I managed to wait until after taking the pictures to sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Be very proud of me.

There were some extra pomegranate seeds leftover and they jumped over to the savory side of the kitchen, topping cheese tortellini in brown butter sage sauce. *chef’s kiss*

Vroom vroom.

The batter was a simple butter cake with a mix of ground pistachio and regular flour. They baked up like a financier, with a very soft crumb (less flour = less gluten = less structural resistance) and a rich, nutty flavor.

Lush.

Setting the stage before act one: cooking the fruit in sugar until lightly caramelized. Once the fruit is gold n’ bubbly (best Steel Magnolias Dolly Parton voice), it’s topped with cake batter and snuggled in for it’s final bake.

I carefully arranged all the fruit and then realized I had forgotten to put the sugar in first. Sigh.

Appropriately sugared. Bring it on, oven.

Muffins with a secret.

Voila! No pomegranate seed left behind.

Next time I might swap out the pom seeds for blood orange triangles for a more uniform look while keeping the color contrast. Maaaaybe I’ll have to make a whole bunch of batches to test out the best fruit combo. Poor me, surrounded by delicious pistachio cakelets.

Happy munching!

Recipe from Crave by Martha Collison