Maple Persimmon Upside Down Cake

congrats, you (almost) made it through january! you deserve cake. maple persimmon upside down cake, because upside down cakes never go out of style and because it's persimmon season.

the majority of the content you see is created when i'm home on break, so sometimes there's a massive gap between when i shoot the pictures and when i post them. i'm definitely not a perfectionist, but i find myself in a cycle of liking my pictures upon capture, and then disliking them when i actually go to post. but when i debate reshooting and posting later, it's a matter of 8+ months later. because persimmons aren't in season in june, aka summer break time. tl;dr: take these photos with a grain of salt, but i promise that this cake is delicious (bc pics are important, but what i really care about is how the recipe actually tastes).

anyways, this maple persimmon upside down cake is on the sweeter side, so serving it with unsweetened whipped cream or greek yogurt is perfect. i've cut the original amount of syrup down slightly, but i'd be loathe to cut it more since that's what helps give the cake a really pleasant moistness. i love how soft (but not mushy!) the persimmon gets, and i'm convinced that everyone should cut persimmons crosswise from now on bc THAT STAR PATTERN.

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Maple Persimmon Upside Down Cake

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

50 mins

Total Time

1 hr 5 mins

 

This maple persimmon upside down cake features maple-scented cake and tender persimmons for an easy but still impressive looking (and tasting!) cake.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 9 people

Calories: 306 kcal

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter room temperature
• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 large eggs room temperature
• ⅔ cup buttermilk room temperature
• ½ cup finely chopped roasted pecans
• 2-3 ripe fuyu medium persimmons cut into ¼" thick slices parallel to the equator
• whipped cream or Greek yogurt or creme fraiche to serve

Instructions

1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons maple syrup in a 10” cake pan or cast iron skillet over low heat. Remove from the heat.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.

3. Beat 6 tablespoons butter and ¾ cup syrup until thoroughly combined (this may take days). Add the eggs, and beat for 1 minute.

4. Add half of the flour mixture and beat for 10 seconds. Add the buttermilk and beat for 10 seconds. Add the rest of the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Fold in the pecans.
5. Swirl the cast iron pan to make sure the sides and bottom of the pan are thoroughly coated. Cover the bottom of the pan with concentric circles of persimmons. Pour the batter over the fruit, and smooth out the surface.
6. Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes, until browned slightly and a knife inserted in the middle comes out with moist crumbs.
7. Cool in the pan until it can be handled without oven mitts. Using a thin knife, gently loosen the sides of the cake. Invert onto a serving plate.
8. Serve slices of cake warm with whipped cream, yogurt or creme fraiche.

Recipe Notes

From vvvanessa via Food52.

If you don’t have a 10” round vessel, you can either have multiple, smaller pans on hand or half the recipe and bake it for 30-35 minutes in an 8” round pan (the cake pictured here is 8").

it seems silly to talk about cake considering the current political and social climate in the us. do what you can: donate, talk, contact your congress members (even if you think they're in safe districts), protest (peacefully). but in that same vein, i'm betting you get enough politics through your circles and irl advocacy, and i'd like to keep this an escape. tl;dr: i'm going to mention it now, but it's not going to be in every post AND just because i don't talk about it doesn't mean it's forgotten or that it doesn't matter.