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6/8/07

Lemon Upside Down Cake

Sometimes I post recipes on my site that I haven't tried yet, but I don't want to 'lose' them so I put them here to hold. This is one of them. I don't have a skillet that I can make this in, so I would probably use a different heavy pan and play with the recipe a bit, but I'm a big fan of lemon and I like the idea behind this one. Will hold it here for future reference and future 'tweaking'.

Lemon Upside-Down Cake


4 small lemons (about 4 ounces each)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1-1/4 sticks) butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 vanilla bean, split
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350ยบ

Slice, grate lemons: Cut 3 of the lemons into 1/8-inch-thick slices. Remove seeds and set aside. You will have about 30 lemon slices. Grate 1 teaspoon lemon peel from the remaining lemon. Set aside the grated peel; save the lemon for another use.

Heat 4 tablespoons of the butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet or an ovenproof 10-inch saute pan until melted. Brush the sides of skillet with a little of the melted butter. Add the brown sugar, stir until it is moistened with the butter and spread it into an even layer. Arrange the lemon slices, slightly overlapping, to cover the bottom of the skillet. Set aside.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. Cut the remaining 6 tablespoons butter into a mixing bowl. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean with the point of a knife onto the butter. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until creamy. Add the sugar and grated lemon peel and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add half the flour mixture and beat until blended. Add milk and beat until comibned, then add the remaining flour mixture and beat until blended.

Assemble, bake the cake: Spread the batter over the lemons in the skillet to cover evenly. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cake is golden and the center tests done. Let the cake stand 5 minutes, then invert the skillet onto a platter.Print Friendly and PDF