I am beyond privileged that Barb, aka Creative Culinary, is guest posting for me today.
What Barbara and I have most in common is that we love having people over and besides enjoying sharing food and wine, most of all we both love the process, planning, and preparing the meal.
Barb has been writing for over 16 years and apart from her lovely blog, she has also been running a web development business since 1995. For neo-bloggers like me, Barb has written a lot about her experience on building a successful blog. There are easy, simple tips that go a long way.
Barb has baked a lovely upside down cherry cake for me. And before I let her take over, I’d like to thank her for being there and unconditionally supportive when I was redesigning my blog.
One of my most favorite desserts in this world is pineapple upside down cake. There is something about that combination of fruit with brown sugar and butter that transports it to another place altogether. So when I saw a recipe in a recent issue of Bon Appetit for an Blackberry Buttermilk Cake my interest was piqued. No problem that I didn’t have blackberries; I was determined…and transporting was on my mind as this particular baked good was going to be a guest post for someone else and I wanted it to be something spectacular, something we both would just love.
Anuradha and I have been communicating for some time on Twitter; I even held her hand a bit when she made the big move to a hosted WordPress site and though she claims novice capabilities, I think her work in the baking realm is stellar. That she should would invite a Denverite, you know a ‘high altituder’ to do a guest post on baking was a real leap of faith as there is always a higher risk of failure in our baking results when dealing with less oxygen, leavening and the possibility of a big sink hole! Both of us participate in @abbydodge’s #baketogether event each month too; so you know, we hang in the same circles…if you can forget I live in Colorado and she in India!
I started thinking about what to do a couple of weeks ago when I was actually supposed to guest post for Anuradha last Thursday. I had a plan. I was going to revise one of my favorites, a lemon bar recipe I’ve made for 3 decades and do a take on them but with raspberries. Not with raspberries in them, no, I wanted the base to be a red raspberry one. The end result tasted fine but I just could not get over that sort of cloudy pink color that turned out…not at all as I had imagined. So my sweet friend gave me a reprieve until this week. Thank you, An!
The notion of an upside down cake seemed to make such sense as I pondered what to do next. Any visible sinking would be magically disguised when the top would become the bottom and I was sold. Another few minor revisions and the end result was a cake that reminded me of pound cake with a slight orange twist and, or course, the brown sugar glazed berries on top. Yummalicious to be exact.
It was perfect with coffee…and if I had been smart enough to pick up some whipping cream; that would have been a plus…enjoy!
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan and parchment
- 2⅓ cups cake flour (sifted, then measured) plus more for pan
- 3 cups pitted fresh sweet cherries
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp melted butter
- 1⅓ cups sugar
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ teaspoons finely grated orange zest
- juice of one orange
- 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
- Powdered sugar (for dusting)
- Position a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350F.
- Butter a springform pan; line bottom with a round of parchment paper. Butter parchment. Dust with flour; tap out excess.
- Using a piece of aluminum foil, wrap the bottom of the the springform pan tightly with the foil to avoid having melted butter dripping in your oven.
- Arrange berries in a single layer in bottom of pan; sprinkle evenly with ¼ cup sugar.
- Drizzle with the two tablespoons of melted butter.
- Sift 2⅓ cups flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a medium bowl; set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat ¾ cup butter and remaining 1⅓ cups sugar in a large bowl at medium-high speed, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Beat in vanilla, zest and orange juice. Reduce speed to low; beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating just until incorporated.
- Pour batter over cherries in pan; smooth top.
- Bake until cake is golden brown and cake bounces back when pressed gently with fingertip, about 1 hour for a 9″ pan and about 45 minutes for a 10″ pan. Test for doneness (see Notes).
- Let cool in pan set on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then run a thin, sharp knife around the edge of the pan to loosen. Remove pan sides.
- Invert cake onto rack and remove pan bottom; peel off parchment. Dust top generously with powdered sugar and let cool completely.
Happy Baking!
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What a lovely cake…oh wait, I can’t say that! All kidding aside, thank you so much for asking me to guest post for you. I love watching what you do and even more have enjoyed getting to know you…so many miles away actually but so very close virtually. And so glad for that1
Loved seeing Barb here, and we both share the UPSIDOPIAPLCAKE! Lol, that was my own abbreviation ;) Gorgeous cake!
I just adore upside down cakes, they are so full of flavor, and just pure happiness! This cake looks amazing:-) Hugs, Terra
An, just came from Barb’s place…she said to be sure to say *Hi* so *Hi*. I think it’s wonderful that this virtual world we seem to spend so much time in has made it possible for people such as you and Barb (and both your readers) to be free to pop by with no requirement for passports, airline tickets etc. We are truly just a click away from wonderful stories, recipes and people and if this is the way we have to share coffee and time with one another until IRL is possible, well then I’m happy.
Thanks for having Barb guest post. Of course she made a wonderful cake and who cares about the whipped cream. Looks like it’s perfect all by itself.
This such a wonderful collaboration and a gues post by Barb, An. Just gorgeous!! The cherries lined up so disciplined, mine usually so unruly!! :)
What a wonderful cake it is, Barb! Oh…yes I can say this on your behalf :) Love those pretty cherries sitting on the cake. Wonderful guest post, An.
What a great guest post! I love Barb’s blog.
An awesome cake!
Cheers,
Rosa
Yummalicious is right! Barb, so good to see you here on An’s site – I just love this and hope to make it soon. The cherries have been spectacular in the last week, too.
MMMMMMM, good thing I am disciplined enough to eat in moderation, cause I could eat a whole one of these by myself!! Great Post!
Great to see Barbara over here! This cherry upside down cake looks blissful :)
i just love cherries in baked goods. upside down cherry cake is so creative and this must have tasted fabulous!!
From one pinnaple-upsidedown lover to another “BRAVO”
Cherries are a close second to my favorite dessert treat and I’ve tried many recipes for upside-down cherries cakes. Yours look like a winner.
The cake looks so good.
i love Barbara’s blog. The upside down cake is on my to -do list now.
Wnat a thrill An to see Barb’s guest post on your blog. Two great minds come together, awesome! Absolutely love the cake! So beautiful with the cherries and the dusting of powdered sugar is all you need. In my opinion, no whipped cream required!
I love any upside down cake. Yours is beautiful!
An.. Love this post by Barb! I’m so honored to have such wonderful “sweet-minded” friends like both of you!
I just love the look of this cake with those beautiful cherries studding the top. :-) Delicious!
Looks like a great recipe. Love using fresh cherries in baking.
I love this recipe! I like the one with pineapple, but this one with cherries must be extremely delicious!
Hugs
The cherries have held their shape so well in this one, and the juices seem not to have escaped too deep into the batter, which gives the cake a pleasant, focused look and a steady feel. Well done! Make me want to reread Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard.