Hungry Hippo

I have fleeting memories of my mother baking upside-down cakes. From what I recall, there was only a short period of time in which upside-down cakes appeared in my childhood kitchen. Back then, I helped out a bit in the kitchen, but I was a bit too young to do much, so my main role was to partake in the "cake demolition". During that period of Topsy-Turviness, I fondly remember devouring cakes topped with either kiwi or pineapple.

Since I had a bag of frozen cherries sitting around and I needed something to remind me of summer, I decided to bust out with a cherry-apple upside-down cake. This recipe is based on the cherry upside-down cake recipe from Epicurious. I made adjustments to the recipe because I wanted a little apple on the top of the cake (for vanity's sake more than taste) and I was a little too lazy to separate the egg whites from the yolks (and all that is entailed once you start the egg separation process). Also, I only had cane sugar, so I went with that.

In the end, the cake turned out pretty well. I have only two criticisms, the first being that I would have liked the butter/sugar topping to have been more caramelized. I guess for the next time, while making the topping, I would ensure that the sugar would have combined a bit more with the butter before placing the fruit. I also thought the cherries tasted a little flat, and that may have been because they were frozen cherries that seemed to have lost a good part of their cherry flavour. I look forward to the summer when I can try fresh cherries in this recipe (another fruit topping may work well--kiwi?). Otherwise, I was pleased with the result.

Topping

• 1/4 C salted butter
• 3/4 C turbinado sugar
  
• ~10 ounces frozen, pitted cherries
• 1/2 golden delicious apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
  

Cake

• 1/2 C unsalted butter, warmed to room temperature
• 1 C cane sugar
• 1/4 t sea salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 C whole milk
• 1 1/2 C all purpose, unbleached flour
• 2 t baking powder

Topping

• Preheat oven to 350 F degrees
• Butter sides of a 9" diameter cake pan with 2" high sides
• Melt 1/4 C butter in the same pan set over low heat
• Add sugar
• Whisk until blended
• Remove from heat and evenly spread mixture over bottom of pan
• Arrange apples slices and cherries in a layer in the bottom of the pan and set aside

Cake

• Using a hand mixer, beat butter until fluffy
  
• Add sugar and salt and beat into butter until creamy
• Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth
• Measure and mix flour and baking powder in a separate bowl
• Slowly mix dry ingredients and milk into the butter mixture
• Pour batter over apple-cherry topping in the cake pan and smooth top
  
• Bake cake until deep golden on top and inserted toothpick comes out clean, approximately 55 minutes
  
• Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes
• Invert cake with its pan onto a plate and set aside for 5 minutes
• Lift pan, voila!