Just Peachy Upside-Down Cake

Peaches are about to go by in our little corner of the world. Hager Brothers in Shelburne, Massachusetts, ran out last week, and Clarkdale in Deerfield has just announced that this will be its last week!

I’m hoping Apex in Shelburne can hold out a little longer, but the Smiths did seem to have more apples than peaches when I stopped by the other day! I haven’t checked this week at Pine Hill Orchard in Colrain, but last time I was there apples were taking over shelf space from their softer cousins. Sigh….

Of course, this should be expected. It IS September. And we DID first see peaches in July, a premature treat. But I’m a bit downcast nonetheless. I could keep eating them all year. And of course cooking with them.

Today I’m making a batch of peach jam so we’ll have a taste of peaches in months to come.

Meanwhile, here’s a very peachy recipe. I took this upside-down cake to a party a few days ago, and it was a huge hit. Make the recipe if you can still find peaches. Or tuck it away until next year.

Mother Jan arranges the peaches.

The Cake

Ingredients:

for the topping:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) sweet butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
the juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cups peach slices

for the cake:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1-3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

First make the topping (which goes on the bottom!).

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar and lemon juice. Cook, stirring, until the combination melts and bubbles—3 to 4 minutes.

Transfer the brown-sugar mixture into a 9-inch-square cake pan. Spread it through the bottom of the pan. Arrange the peach slices on top as artistically as you can. (My mother did ours, and like me she’s a better cook than an artist.)

For the cake cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time. Add the baking powder and salt. Stir in the flour alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir in the vanilla, and pour the batter over the rhubarb mixture.

Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the center (but not too far down; don’t hit the peaches!) comes out clean, about 40 minutes. If the cake is brown but not done before this happens, decrease the oven temperature and continue baking.

Allow the cake to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife, and invert the cake onto a serving plate held over the skillet. Turn upside-down. Remove pan.

Serve alone or with whipped cream. Serves 9.

As with my recent rhubarb cake I should think you could absolutely bake this pan in a 10-inch iron skillet (heating the butter, brown sugar, and lemon juice in it first, and then piling on the other ingredients). I couldn’t find my skillet, however—I think it must be in storage in another state!--so I used a square pan and can only report on those results.