Bilberry Upside Down Cake

5 from 1 vote

Upside-down cake recipes make for an interesting everyday cake. They are incredibly easy to make and are great for an impromptu bake resulting in a great addition to an afternoon tea, with no need for any frosting allowing the fruit to create the interest. This bilberry upside-down cake makes great use of foraged berries with additional flavour coming from the ground almonds and a touch of lemon zest.

Prep Time25

Cook Time50

Total Time1 15

Course: Cake, Dessert

Cuisine: British

Keyword: upside down cake

Servings:

Calories: 332kcal

Author: Angela – Only Crumbs Remain

Ingredients

150 g bilberries see note c below
115 g butter unsalted & softened
75 g caster sugar
40 g golden caster sugar
½ lemon (finely grated zest)
small pinch of salt
2 eggs
75 g self-raising flour
40 g ground almonds
½ teaspoon baking powder
1-2 tablespoon milk

Instructions

Prepare the bilberries. Wash the bilberries removing any leaves, stalks and spoilt fruit. Place onto a double layer of kitchen roll to dry.
Preheat the oven to 180℃ / Fan 160℃ / 355℉ / Gas 4. Prepare the cake tin. Grease and fully line the cake tin with grease proof paper.
Make the sponge batter. Place the soft butter and sugars into a good sized bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon or electric beaters until very pale and fluffy. Add the salt and lemon zest. Beat again to combine. Gradually add the beaten egg a little at a time, beating well after each addition, (see note b below). Sieve the flour, ground almonds and baking powder into the mixture. Use a spatula, large metal spoon or your hand with your fingers splayed to fold this in gently. Add a little milk and gently mix in until the batter has a dropping consistency.
Fill the cake tin. Place the prepared bilberries into the bottom of the cake tin, ensuring there is an even layer. Spoon the prepared batter onto the bilberries. Spread the batter out gently to level, aiming not to disturb the bilberries. Use the back of a spoon to make a slight indentation to the centre of the batter. This will help it bake level.
Bake. Place the cake tin in the centre of the oven and bake for about 45 – 50 minutes until golden brown, slightly pulling away from the sides and a cake skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. You may need to rotate the cake tin after 35 – 40 minutes of baking. Once baked, remove from the oven and place onto a cooling rack.
Turn out the cake. Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tin. Invert a cooling rack on top of the cake tin. In one movement, swiftly turn the cake tin and cooling rack upside down. Remove the cake tin and greaseproof paper. The bilberries will now be the top of the cake. Allow the cake to finish cooling.
Enjoy, with either on its own or served with ice cream, cream, yogurt or even warm with some custard.

Notes

Equipment

 1 x deep 16cm diameter cake tin
electric whisk

Cook's Tips

a) When making the cupcake batter, consider weighing the cracked eggs first to ensure the batter has equal weight of butter, sugar, flour and eggs. Simply weigh the butter, sugar and flour to the same weight as the eggs. Of course the value may be slightly different to the 115g listed in the ingredients above.

b) Consider warming your lightly beaten eggs over a bain marie especially if they feel particularly cold. Warm them until they feel lukewarm. This should help prevent the batter from curdling and produce a better sponge.

c) If you’re unable to get hold of fresh bilberries, either source them jarred or use blueberries instead. Alternatively black currants or blackberries would be great too.

d) To make the cake suitable for those with a nut allergy remove the ground almonds and baking powder (as extra raising agent won’t be needed) and replace with the same quantity (40g) of SR flour.

Store

In an airtight container for 2-3 days in a cool place.

Freeze for up to 3 months.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice (⅙) | Calories: 332kcal