Peach Upside-Down Cake

Peach Upside-Down Cake
(printer-friendly version)
This is a lightly sweetened cake that allows the fresh flavor of the peaches to shine through. If you like your desserts sugary (like my daughter does), feel free to increase the amount of sugar that goes into the skillet by up to double. The same goes if your peaches are not quite sweet enough. But my husband and I like it just like this.
Dry ingredients:
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 cup natural sugar (I used demerara for all the sugar in this recipe)
1/8 teaspoon salt
Liquid ingredients:
1 cup vanilla soy milk mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest (or 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract)
4 cups peeled and sliced peaches
2 tablespoons natural, raw or brown sugar
1/4 cup natural, raw or brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine the dry ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Combine the liquid ingredients in a separate bowl. Set aside without mixing them together.
Combine the peaches with the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Wipe or spray a 10-inch, well-seasoned cast iron skillet with oil. (This step is very important if you want to be able to get the cake out of the pan.) Begin heating it and add the 1/4 cup (or more) of sugar and the water. Heat and stir until the sugar is completely melted. Continue to cook and stir until the mixture is bubbly and slightly reduced (but be careful not to burn it). Place the peaches on top of the sugar and remove from heat:

Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture, stirring briefly just to moisten. Pour and smooth the batter over the peaches, covering them entirely. Put the skillet into the oven (you may want to place a cookie sheet or foil on the shelf below it to catch drips) and bake until the sides of the cake pull away from the edges of the pan and a toothpick comes out clean (about 30-40 minutes):

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 15-30 minutes. Then, run a knife around the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Place a large plate or serving platter over the top and invert the skillet. Remove the skillet carefully from the cake:

Be sure to scrape any caramelized juices from the pan and smooth them over the peaches. Voilà! Peach Upside-Down Cake:

Serve warm or at room temperature, alone or with vanilla non-dairy ice cream. Makes about 8 servings.

Here's the amazing part. Each serving (based on 8) provides 148 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (2% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 36g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 166mg Sodium; 2g Fiber. With the sugar and white flour, it's hardly health food, but it is loaded with fruit and is almost totally fat-free.
Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free
Labels: Southern cooking, soy














56 Comments:
How you got that down to 150 delicious calories, I have no idea. But I'd like to test it out, just to see if it's as delicious as it looks, all in the name of scientific research. ;-)
Perfect, just perfect. I have an abundance of necterines so I am going to give it a shot and see what happens. Thank you so much for the great recipe! I keep you posted.
oh man. and i JUST ate all my peaches! Nooo!
And it doesn't need to be baked in the oven. I'm peachy!
Alanna--It's only that low if you eat only one slice at a time--which I'm not usually able to do!
Veg-a-Nut--I can't wait to hear how it comes out with nectarines.
lolo--Oh Noooo! ;-)
pavotrouge--Be careful. It DOES go into the oven. It just starts out on the stove. I wouldn't want anyone to mis-read that!
Oh, do I have the courage to try to make this??? I love peaches, but I've never had much luck with things that need to be flipped out of pans! But it looks sooooo delicious....
wow, that looks beautiful! i would love to try that out!
This looks great! I would love to try it, but I don't have a cast iron pan...any ideas for a good substitution?
Thanks!
Courtney
Courtney, use a regular skillet to melt the sugar in the water. Then transfer it to an oiled round baking pan, at least 9 inches in diameter and proceed with the recipe. You might have to decrease the amount of peaches to 3 cups, though, to fit it all in. Or, you could take whatever doesn't fit and make mini upside-down cakes in a muffin pan.
What do you think about subsituting whole wheat flour instead?
Oh wow!!! This is the most beautiful blog posting I've read all day! I am SO going to try this. I'll have to try it with whole wheat flour though, I hope it tastes as good as yours look.
First the cornbread and now this awesome confection....I love the way you use an iron skillet! I think they're the best kitchen tool ever, but I guess my Southern grandma taught me that!
Seriously, could those pictures possibly look more perfect? I just wanted to stick my fork in that slice!
This looks soooooo good and I just got a TON of peaches from a friend. I will be trying this recipe tomorrow for sure! Thanks!
That looks really delicious! I feel sad when I see you describe the nutrition information as "the damage" though! I know it is just a figure of speech, but food is to nourish us and give us pleasure, not something to feel guilty about.
Michael Natkin
The Vegetarian Foodie Blog
It's peach season, isn't it? This looks like a great way to use them!
Yum, sounds like the perfect summer treat! I'll have use some of our Texas peaches....
Ooh, that looks good! We've been getting the same Alabama peaches up here in Memphis, since Jones' Orchard lost all theirs to that late freeze. I'll have to wait til Saturday to make this, though, as I've eaten all the peaches we got last week--they're so luscious!
I've tried several of your recipes over the past year or so, and they have all been very good. This one looks to be no exception and I plan to be trying it very soon.
Ron
i think we have the same plates.
clearly, we are the same person.
;)
oooh, i'm going to have my hubby pick up peaches from the farmer's market this weekend! any idea about how many peaches are needed to make 4 cups worth cut up?
Whole wheat flour? The only way to know is to try. You might need a little more liquid, though the batter should be fairly stiff.
Gleek, I used 4 extra-large peaches to get 4 cups.
Wow. Us vegans are just so deprived, on our extremist diet and all.
Look delish!
A great sounding dessert and beautiful pictures. What more do you need?
YAY! I come to comment, and see that my wife has already commented, and plans to make this.
Thank you!
Thanks so much for the tip, Susan! I'll give it a try...
Courtney
You have out done yourself! Jeff loves peaches, so I'd love to try this once we find a nice place in MN!
that cakes looks fantastic - it looks like the cake is plain enough to showcase the wonderful taste of peaches!
Susan, your photos are wonderful!
That cake looks so delicious, I wish I could grab a (big) slice! :)
*drools*
Heaven knows that you can't go wrong with peaches - and they are just flooding the farmer's market these days. But what really impressed me was that you managed to slip soy milk in there. Well done.
Cheers!
oh, what a lovely cake.
Great idea.
I have never made one myself, but always looked at the pictures with jealousy. Now, having your vegan-friendly recipe (a big big plus) I ll give it a shot. I have some plums left, so I ll try those instead.
Thanx Susan
Oh my gosh, Susan, that looks so delectable! I still haven't gotten any local summer peaches, but I know *exactly* what I'm doing first when I do- I love the texture of this cake.
I've been absent from the blogs for a while, so I'm catching up to your last few posts now- everything looks so good.
This looks so good! But how well does it keep in your fridge? I learned about a product from Pionair called the Mini-Mate. As a mom of three growing children I found that when I would buy produce before we could consume it the produce would go bad. That doesn’t surprise me seeing as how everything goes bad before you can eat it nowadays. Even if I would juice the produce it did not taste as fresh as the day I brought it home. I researched the reason and found that there is device that works in your refrigerator that will help prolong the shelf life of organic produce plus it kills bacteria. It is the best thing I have ever owned and I think everyone should own one. I found it at www.orderminimate.com. It’s called the Mini Mate. I have had mine for over 60 days and it has already saved me $20.00 which is a fraction of what I paid for it. Has anyone else ever used this before?
Susan this is wonderful looking-and timely because we have lots of great peaches here and I have actually been thinking about making an upside-down cake.
I always used to make one for my Dad's birthday with pineapple.
I'm going to substitute whole wheat pastry flour for at least half the white flour to healthify it even more, maybe add some minced candided ginger...(your poster who asked about whole wheat might want to buy some whole wheat pastry flour themselves-in anything other than pasta, bread and pizza dough, which need a lot of gluten, this lower-gluten alternative can be substituted 1 for 1 for white flour with great results). Awesome photo! I love your blog:)-see, I added you to my brand new blogroll: www.riceandbeansindc.blogspot.com
Gorgeous. I have a bunch of peaches that would be just perfect for that. Think I might try it with different flours, though, just to see what happens. Love your blog!
Looks great. I will give this a try.
Looks YUMMY...will try it soon. It is v. Weight Watcher friendly too....either 2 0r 3 points a serving!!
I made it yesterday- it's very good! making a cake completely fat free was too scary though- I added a cupful (1 Tbsp) of canola oil to it; and it came out very well!
thanks for posting the recipe :)
This was excellent! I'm savoring my last few days at home before I head back to college and knowing I won't have access to a nice kitchen put me in the baking mood. My Dad, who is neither vegan nor vegetartian, really enjoyed this, and it was especially nice for him because he suffers from acid reflux and this didn't aggrevate his condition. Personally, I particularly liked the cake portion, as it had a nice lemony flavor; I didn't use a lot of lemon, though, because of it's acidity.
Thanks, Susan, for this awesome taste of summer.
Hi Susan,
I made your upside down cake with nectarines and the taste is wonderful. The results were not as eye pleasing as yours by a long shot, but the taste is fantastic! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
What a great recipe - had some ripe apricots, plums, and pears. Delicious! Thanks.
I made this last night and it was delicious! My bf delcared it was the best dessert he has ever eaten.
Drooling, here, with all the lousy food I've eaten I MUST devour this recipe at some point soon...
I am sitting here with a warm slice of this cake and it is so out of this world that I had to thank you for the recipe! Its amazing and easy! I used nectarines (more than you called for) and I don't think it could be improved...
thanks again!
This cake really makes me dreaming....I'll try it soon!
That cake is breathtakingly beautiful and such lovely pictures you have captures, they make me melt down instantly
This looks so good. I bought peaches today just so I can make this.
I finally got around to making this, and YUM! The consistency of the 'cake' part was wonderful, and I could taste just a hint of the lemon and vanilla that complimented the peaches just so. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, that I'll be using over and over again!
Irma said...
This is wonderful! The sweetness of this cake balances very well with the freshness of the fruit. I used plums and cinnamon instead of peaches and ginger (didn't have either of the latter at hand.) Everything tasted great. Thanks.
Oh, here's a good Vegan, German Plum Cake (Plaumenkuchen):
http://www.vegalicious.org/2007/08/12/german-plum-cake-plaumenkuchen/
I saw this cake on VeganYumYum and decided to make it for a barbecue we had. We doubled the amount of batter we put over the peaches, because we found that the recipe didn't make quite enough, but it turned out just fine.
The cake was a huge hit with the adults, the high-schoolers and the kids. Awesome!
I made your cake and it is wonderful, quite possible one of the best cakes I have ever tasted. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe! Here is a link to my Blog where I made it. My apartment is dark and the picture didn't turn out great. Peach Cake
Wow I made this recipe last night because my boyfriends vegan and I wanted to wow him a bit. Its Fantastic! I modified it a bit to his liking though, I added maple syrup into the cake as well as chopped up figs and put some home made roasted almonds on top, its glorious! Good luck and try this!
Hi,
A very great recipe, the cake looks gorgeous !
Maybe I'll try to do it by myself...
Thanks.
Popeline
hey...i looove ths recipie....though i dont like the word "damage" 4 calories
Ok I think I'm going to try and make this, even though I'm a terrible baker! (It's hard when you live at 10,000 feet!)
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