The Many Sides of Upside-Down Cake

Not just pineapple

Say “upside-down cake,” and most people think pineapple. Pineapple upside-down cake is a classic American dessert, but the original upside-down cake wasn’t made from pineapple at all, according to evidence in cookbooks from the late 1800s that feature apple and cherry upside-down cakes. In those days, cakes weren’t as common as pies and tarts, and canned pineapple hadn’t been invented.

How’d the name “upside-down cake” originate?

When someone accidentally dropped a cake, splat, upside-down on the ground? While this has likely happened, the self-explanatory name refers to the way the cake is served: flipped out of the pan so that the bottom becomes the top, revealing a moist, piping hot topping, commonly consisting of fruit caramelized in a melted sugary-butter blend.

While the phrase “upside-down cake” may not have originated until the mid-nineteenth century, that doesn’t mean that this particular style of baking—inverting a cake to reveal the topping—wasn’t common. “That style of baking could date as far back as the Middle Ages,” according to food history professor Burt Gordon, Ph.D.

Who invented upside-down cake?

Like many things, particularly those of an edible nature, upside-down cake is near impossible to trace to one “inventor.” It has a tantalizingly elusive history. Researchers make educated guesses, and their findings are usually quite interesting, filled with food for thought that’s best mulled over while savoring the creation in question.

Consider the fact that canned pineapple has been around for little more than one hundred years. Jim Dole started canning pineapple in 1903. Most likely, the canned pineapple began to be used in upside-down fruit cake recipes that already existed. It caught on quickly, because in 1925, when the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (Dole, as it is now known) sponsored a contest calling for pineapple recipes, 2,500 of the 60,000 submissions were recipes for pineapple upside-down cake! The company decided to run an ad about the flood of pineapple upside-down cake recipes it had received, and the cake’s popularity increased!

Modern upside-down cake

Today, this cake is still going strong—and boldly taking on new, adventurous flavors. An upside-down cake, according to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, is “a cake baked with a bottom layer of fruit and turned upside down before serving.” Fruit versions have a timeless appeal, it’s true, but what about chocolate fudge upside-down cake? Or maple syrup upside-down cake? Pumpkin, anyone? These are just a couple of tempting fruitless varieties. As for the fruit versions, let’s not limit ourselves to apple, cherry, or pineapple. Try banana chocolate chip, fuzzy navel, rhubarb, or papaya. Check out this page for more choices.

And for a fun food romp, read the children’s book Eight Animals Bake a Cake by Susan Middleton Elya, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Baking an upside-down cake can be a simple process-- despite Emeril Lagasse’s disaster. Even a famous cook can make a mistake. For example, always make sure to adapt a recipe to an extreme altitude. Emeril learned this when baking an upside-down cake in Colorado. Due to the decreased pressure, his upside-down cake exploded in the oven!

Whether made from scratch or adapted from a cake mix, versions run the gamut from simple to elegant. Simple, because it’s a homey comfort food, reminiscent of Mom’s and Grandma’s baked goods. In pioneer days, upside-down cake was cooked on a flame in a cast-iron skillet, not baked in a pan in an oven, earning it the name, “skillet cake.” Today you can use almost any kind of cake pan, from square to round to bundt; we even have special pans made just for upside-down cakes.

Why all this focus on the bottom of the pan? It makes sense. The sugar melts with the butter and caramelizes due to the power of the direct, even heat, while the juices from the fruit produce a super moist cake. Don’t fear that all this good, sticky stuff will hinder the cake from turning out. Simply run a knife around the edge of the cake to separate it from the sides of the pan. Place a plate over the cake in the pan and flip both over together. Remove the pan. Even if some topping remains stuck inside the pan, remove it with a spatula and simply fit it onto your cake like a puzzle piece!

Turn your diet upside-down

By this time, you may have guessed upside-down cake is bursting with calories. No wonder it’s considered a comfort food. Some warn that it’s too cloyingly sweet. Indeed, the calorie-laden brown-sugar butter topping may make the health conscious cringe, but rather than eliminate this cake, some have developed pleasant, healthier versions: One recipe here

Serving suggestions

Many suggest serving upside-down cake as a fresh, colorful Easter brunch treat. But it would be suitable for any holiday or celebration. The presentation can be very striking, particularly if you’ve taken care to arrange the fruit or nuts before spooning on the batter—which, by the way, you should do carefully so as not to disturb the placement. Make a flower or pinwheel pattern using nuts or sliced fruit. How about arranging them to make a smiley face?

After all, what is a kitchen put a flavor-filled chemistry lab for experimentation? Some bakers use granulated sugar for making the glaze, instead of the typical brown. The inventors don’t stop inventing, proven by the advent of upside-down cupcakes, a cute mini, modern version of this classic cake. Example here Another “flipped” dessert you may never heard of before, but promises to be delectable, could be called this cake’s “cousin”: upside-down pie.

But that’s another article.