Wednesday 5 June 2013

Peach Upside Down Cake


I love canned peaches with vanilla ice-cream or with any other desserts. When this recipe was published in The Star on 18 December 2012, I immediately cut and kept the recipe. Anything with canned peaches, I will try :)


The recipe also calls for raisins and I am not exactly crazy about raisins. So I thought dried cranberries (craisins) would be a nice substitute. Besides, the red color is more attractive.


The cake uses egg separation method and you have to prepare the egg yolk batter and the meringue and fold them together. I didn't follow exactly the proper sequence of events and my batter was not quite right. Anyway, in it went into the oven and hopefully it comes out OK.


Forty minutes into baking time, I noted the top was quite nicely browned. One of the things that make me nervous when baking a new cake is knowing when the cake is done. I have had instances when the skewer comes out clean but the cake is still raw in the middle. I reckon the top crust scrapes off the raw batter when the skewer is pulled out, giving a false indication. That's what happened this time.


I waited until 45 minutes was up and removed the cake from the oven. After cooling for about 10 minutes or so, I removed the cake from the pan. It turned out alright but ugh! I didn't like the smell. The smell of cooked peaches mingling with the smell of cranberries. This can't be good, I thought. But never mind, let it cool further and taste later.


I cut into the cake and arrghh!!! the middle part the size of a 20 cent coin was still raw. Looks like I am still a "lesen L" in baking. LOL! I just cut the raw part off and tasted the cake. Hey, not bad. It didn't smell unpleasant like earlier. The combination of the peaches, cranberries and buttery cake was quite nice. But I wasn't raving over it. I'm not giving up on this cake yet. I will bake it again with just the peaches. And I'll have to be careful with the preparation of the batter and the baking time. Hopefully I do better with the next one :)










Peach Upside Down Cake
Recipe Source : Ms Amy Beh at Kuali.com

Ingredients :
- 1 can peach slices in syrup, well drained
- 50g raisins (I used dried cranberries)
- 4 eggs
- 2 tablespoons castor sugar
- 80g castor sugar
- 110g butter
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence (I used 1 teaspoon)
- 1/2 tsp salt (I omitted)
- 200g self raising flour
- 70g chopped peach slices
- 1 tbsp apricot brandy or any fruit juice (I just used the peach syrup)

Method :
1. Lightly grease and double line the base of an 8 inch  round pan with baking paper. Grease the paper. (I did not line the pan but greased it with butter on the base and all around).
2. Arrange peach slices in a concentric circle on the base of the pan and sprinkle some of the raisins over them.  Set the pan aside.
3. Separate egg yolks from whites.
4. Beat egg whites until stiff and add the two tablespoons of castor sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Cream butter, 80g sugar, essence and salt until light.
6. Beat in egg yolks two at a time, until mixture is creamy and light.
7. Sift in flour, alternating it with the beaten egg whites.
8. Stir in chopped peach, the remaining raisins and apricot liqueur.
9. Spoon cake mixture into prepared pan and spread out evenly with the back of a spoon.
10. Bake in a preheated oven at 175C for 45 to 50 minutes or until cake is cooked through when tested with a skewer. 
11.When the cake is done, put the pan on a cooling rack and cool for about 10 minutes before turning over onto a plate.
12. Wait until the cake is cool before slicing.


50 comments:

  1. Love it. I love the whole upside down cake thing. We make upside down pineapple now at work (I'm a prep cook), and my favorite part is flipping it over.

    So much fun.

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    1. Thank you! You have the best job ever!

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  2. I adore peaches, too, and am excited for peach season to arrive soon. I've had the undercooked centers in cakes as well..wish there was a way to tell for certain that they're done. Maybe an instant read thermometer...but I'd have no idea what temperature to look for! Anyway, your cake is beautiful....and I agree with you about subbing out the raisins. Good move.

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    1. Thank you, Lizzy! I wish I had baked it for perhaps another 5-10 minutes but it was already nicely browned. Maybe next time I should tent it for the last 10 minutes. Will try again :)

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  3. I don't know what this cake tastes like but I like the beautiful peaches and cranberries topping :)

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    1. Esther, it taste like butter cake with peach topping. Not bad lah except that it wasn't cooked in the middle :(

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  4. Hi Phong hong
    I loves fresh fruits on the cakes. Bukan main cantik nampak nya this cakes. Pasti sedap kan?

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    1. Mel, yes it does look pretty and the taste was not bad. I will bake this cake again soon :)

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  5. The peaches still look good and the cake sounds must be moist and soft minus the raw part :)

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    1. Hi Ann! The cake is moist and the taste is not bad. I will bake again but with just the peach. Hope that it turns out better.

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  6. oh my oh my...kejam betul la...ni dah kes zalim nii...tak tahan oii jiwaku tergoda...
    akak belum pernah makan kek ni tapi biasa buat kek nenas terbalik tu, nampak macam sama.. ni gerenti sedap...lembut, wangi dan tak cukup sepotong!

    PH dear...ni kalau tukar ngan leftover masak lemak ikan kering sepat ngan nenas tu, boleh ker?...boleh laa ar....tak boleh? kejamnya....

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    1. Kejam? Eh, Kak Q, PH tak kejam lah...Kek ni tak berapa menjadi sebenarnya. Bahagian tengah masih mentah. Itu lah pasal tak sabar-sabar nak keluarkan dari oven. Lain kali PH akan buat sebiji lagi, biar OK dulu then kita boleh exchange. Of course lah PH nak masak lemak tu.....

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    2. kalau betul tak kejam, boleh tak takyah exchange? kasi sebiji terus! ekekekek...
      see, nampak sangat akak yg kejam ek? nak PH punya kek tapi taknak exchange LOL..

      psst PH, akak ni sebenarnya kuat gurau...harap tak amik hati ya dear hehehe...

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    3. Takpe, Kak Q...PH pun suka gurau-gurau. I geletek you, you geletek me, betul tak? Kek tu boleh kasi no problemo. Tapi kena datang angkat sendiri, boleh? Hee..hee...

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  7. What a lovely & flavourful cake! So refreshing & very appetizing ! YUMMY! :)

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    1. Thanks, Kit! It was quite nice but I will leave out the cranberries next time and bake a little bit longer :)

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  8. I love eating peaches in cake. This cake is so pretty. Please send me some slices!

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    1. Mich, I'll send you when I bake an improved cake :)

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  9. Phong Hong your cake looks YUM!I just love cranberries and peaches Can DHL some to me?yum-yum makes my mouth lau nyour
    .Only wish I can stay next to you

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    1. EE, I will bake this when you come back :)

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  10. Top layer looks great. Too bad the middle not fully baked.

    Yea maybe solely peach would taste better

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    Replies
    1. Next time I do just peach. Now got experience already, the next one should turn out OK. Hopefully lah...

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  11. Cake looks so gorgeous Phong. would love a slice

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    1. Thanks, Vimitha! Sure, please have a slice :)

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  12. Phong Hong, may be try to bake in a smaller size pan so will surely be baked completely, hehe! Love to see the layer of fruits on the top of the cake!

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    1. Jessie, you are right lah. Recipe said 8" but I pandai-pandai bake in 9" pan. I wanted a flatter cake.

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  13. I also like can peaches very much...at least they are guarantee sweet and juicy hehee...
    Yalor sometimes this thing happened ..looks cook but inside still not 100%. Nvm still can enjoy the cook part with the tasty peaches

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    1. Li Shuan, I just korek the peaches and eat :)

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  14. é una delizia questo tipo di torta. Adoro le torte con la frutta sia fresca che sciroppata.
    Io la mangerei anche se non è cotta al punto giusto!

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    1. Provare questa torta, sono certo che farà un lavoro migliore di me :)

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  15. They have pineapple too...but me, so jakun, never tried. Sobsssss!!!!!

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    1. Don't worry, one day you will try it :) I did bake the pineapple one but it didn't turn out. So I had to throw it away. Sobs...

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  16. PH, I always wanna try upside down cake but no chance yet, now ve to cut down on baking, too fat liao hahaha... I also sometimes encountered it, used the skewer to check and thought is cooked but when slice, there will be small part uncook, so piss!

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    1. Jess, I feel better knowing that you also experience it. I am going to try again!

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  17. I bet the 2nd batch sure came out perfect, we learn from mistakes and gain failed experiences..Ja Yu!

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    1. Hope so lah, Sonia. Akan cuba lagi :)

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  18. It looks beautiful, I like it, been a while since I last baked an upside down cake...I too have my share of not so nice baking that ended up in the dog's bowl:P well, at least one animal is happy!

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    1. Jeannie, your dog must be very happy eating cakes hee..hee...

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  19. Hi Phong Hong,
    Your cake looks great with the peaches all around! I'm all for canned peaches and apricots, love them! Yeah, sometimes it is difficult to tell when the cake is done!
    I have always prefer golden sultanas to raisins, but I don't mind raisins too! And I like dried cranberries and apricots as well! Hahahaha!

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    1. Thanks, Joyce! I was very attracted to the cake because of the peaches. I don't mind raisins in cookies or even buns but not for cake hah! hah! I will bake this cake again. Hopefully the next one turns out nicely :)

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  20. I've only tried pineapple upside down cake - my hubby loves peaches - I must try out this recipe!

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    1. Hi there! Oh, please try and improve on my version :)

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  21. whenever i see peaches arrangement like that, it reminds me of those fresh fruit cream cake. I'm sure you will succeed on your next one!

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    1. Thanks, Lena! Lets see if I can do it :)

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  22. Kak Phong Hong,
    I love can peaches too but never tried using them in bakes. Your upside down cake looks very pretty with the peaches arrangement and moist too.
    I like Amy Beh's recipes they are mostly very good.
    Ya lor, sometimes it hard to tell whether the cake is cooked or not with the pretty look outside hor! :D
    mui

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    1. Adek mui mui! If you like canned peaches you should try baking with them. Very yummy!

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