I realized pretty quickly that I didn’t have quite enough peaches to arrange properly on the top of this cake. By then, there was no point in going out to get more, but the resulting visual effect is a bit lacking, as I’d hoped to cover it with a tighter pinwheel of fruit. Since the cake was just for me, I don’t feel too badly about its looks. If I make it again for guests, though, I’ll plan for using at least 6 peaches or perhaps more (I used 4, and they were somewhat small).
Appearances aside, the cake turned out great. I go bananas over cardamom in just about anything (including bananas), and when paired with peaches there is no exception. The cake part is inspired from a David Lebovitz recipe, and there is a light caramel topping that melts into the cake as it cooks, so the top is nice and sticky. It’s fairly rich due to the caramel, so it can be cut into smallish pieces, and extremely easy, so nice for a casual get-together or summer barbecue.
Upside-Down Peach Cardamom Cake
Caramel:
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1 tablespoon water
approx. 6 medium peaches, dunked in hot water for 10-15 seconds, skinned, pitted, and sliced
Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cardamom seeds
2 eggs
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
generous 1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons milk
Preheat oven to 350°F, and butter a 9-inch cake pan.
Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Increase temperature to medium and cook without stirring until caramel is deep amber. Pour caramel into prepared pan, tilting pan so that it completely covers the bottom. Arrange sliced peaches in concentric circles over caramel.
Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and ground cardamom together in a small bowl.
Beat butter with sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy, then beat in eggs one at a time.
Gently mix in half of dry ingredients, then add yogurt, vanilla, and milk. Fold in rest of dry ingredients until just blended.
Spread the cake mixture over the peaches in the pan (the batter will be quite thick). Bake at 350°F for about 40 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Cool cake for 15-20 minutes before flipping it onto a platter.