Someone needs to stop me. I have made this cake twice in the last two days. Previously, I had made it around the holidays a year ago in two different variations and was able to control myself. Now it’s baaaacccckk. My husband ate half the cake on Monday, I had two pieces and Andrew had two pieces….then we were sad it was gone. So, I made it again Tuesday and blamed it on the snow day. We have half of it left – but I doubt it will be here tomorrow. It’s calling me — just like the jelly doughnuts called to Hollywood in the movie Mannequin.
“Diets don’t work. It’s those jelly doughnuts,
they call to me in the middle of the night.
Hollywood, Hollywood, come and get me Hollywood.”
This cake was adapted from Mario Batali’s Cranberry Ginger Upside Down Cake. I’ve made it with the cranberries and with apple and now the pecan version is our favorite.
The cranberry version.
It’s like pecan pie in a cake form and so addicting.
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons of butter
- 1 1/2 cups of firmly packed brown sugar (light or dark both work well)
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans
- 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 8 teaspoons of unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
- 2 eggs (yolks and whites separated)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar
Instructions
To make the topping, add the 8 tablespoons of butter, brown sugar and chopped pecans to a 10 inch cast iron pan. Place over medium heat - stirring until the butter and sugar have dissolved. Make sure the pecans and sugar mixture are evenly dispersed. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350.
For the cake, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, set aside. In a second bowl, beat the butter and granulated sugar until fluffy (2 to 3 minutes). Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well. Add the vanilla, then using a spatula, fold in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with a third of the milk each time.
Beat the egg whites in another bowl, until soft peaks form. Add the cream of tartar and continue until stiff peaks form. Fold the whites into the batter.
Spoon the batter over the pecan sugar mixture carefully - you may use an offset spatula to spread out evenly. Bake approximately 35 to 40 minutes. Check with a skewer for doneness, if necessary. Let the pan set for five minutes and then run the off set spatula around the sides of the pan. Place a large plate over the pan and flip over. It works every time.
You can serve with a dusting of powdered sugar or whipped cream if you like.
http://thecookbookjunkies.com/upside-down-pecan-cake/
This looks so fabulous that I can’t wait to make it! Many thanks for the recipe! 🙂
Perfect! Thank you so very much for sharing! My family is getting together soon, I will try this recipe for them.
I’ll make this in a few weeks!
Pecan Pie in a cake? There are members of my family that may want to marry you for this!
This looks fantastic!!!!