there is a lot of fresh citrus right now coming up from florida. we are always thinking of new ways to cook with it. this cake uses kumquats; bite size oranges that have a mild tartness to them. the butter and sugar makes a caramel that disguises the natural tart flavor of the fruit and the kumquats make a great pattern in the cake. did i mention that you don’t have to peel these little guys, they rinds are meant to be eaten.
ingredients:
topping
1 1/2 lbs kumquats, halved
1 Stick unsalted butter (if using salted omit salt)
3/4 c light brown sugar
3 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
cake
1 1/3 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cardamon
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened (if using salted use less salt)
1 1/3 cup sugar
5 farm fresh eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
directions:
-heat oven to 325 degrees F
topping:
-Melt butter in a large cast iron pan on mild to medium heat, do not burn butter
-add brown sugar and stir until mixed
Shallow Grave the movie -remove from heat
-add vanilla, honey and salt, stir
the fun part….
-add fruit to caramel mixture flat side down, creating a design, i used as much fruit as i could fit
making batter…
-put softened butter and sugar in a large bowl and mix
-add eggs, one at a time and mix on high until fluffy
-in a different bowl, sift together dry ingredients
-slowly, add to wet ingredients
-when mixed, add vanilly
-carefully spoon or pour batter over kumquat design, taking caution to not disturb design
-when batter is gone smooth the batter making sure it is an even layer
-place cake in oven, preferably in the middle
-bake for 1 hour, as hard as this may be don’t peek (it disturbs the cakes chemistry)
-test the cake with a toothpick, making sure it is cooked in the middle
- take a butter knife and loosen edges along the pan so the sides do not stick
-put cake on a wire rack and let it cool for about 30 minutes
-Put a large platter or charger face down over cast iron pan and flip!
-place any fruit that may have stuck to pan on cake and serve.
****try adding dried lavender or rosewater to cake batter to mix it up a bit
huzzah! hope it turned out well!
Greetings,
I am in love with this post! I grew up with a HUGE kumquat tree and filled a large basket today. My question is:
Do I de-seed these little guys?
I like upside down cakes but always have the problem that they are too sweet. I’ll have to try your recipe – hopefully the kumquats natural tartness will balance things out a bit!
the recipes with citrus where the rind is included are totally new to me..the rind was always something to discard unless shavings were taken from it..does the cooking render the rind into something delicious?
Makes me wish I remembered where those loaded kumquat tree i passed last week was….ah well. think i’ll try it with the ripe fresh pineapple i have instead until i remember.
no, this cake is really sweet, trust me. baking the kumquats with the sugar and butter makes a caramel and the kumquats lose their tartness. thanks for visiting!
OMG! I’ve nearly run out of things to do with all of my kumquats! This cake looks divine and it doesn’t involve alcohol or canning!
Can’t wait to give this a try!
is this cake really sour? the kumquats we have are super tart.
just found your site via design sponge and just love it so far! this upside down cake is a beautiful idea and we look forward to reading regularly.
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I love this! I have a basket of fresh kumquats from my tree in the fridge right now. I may have to give this cake a try.
This is great! You should also celebrate citrus week with these meyer lemon ricotta cookies. They’re to die for!
Oh my god that’s just too cute. I just love your photos!!
This looks like such a fun cake! Quite unusual, too. Gorgeous blog.