Nectarine Melba Upside-Down Cake – gluten & dairy free

Who doesn’t love a good upside down cake? Not only are they quick to make, but there are as many variations as there are fruits and if that doesn’t offer enough choice, you can multiply your options by combining them together. Upside down cake is particularly wonderful at this time of year, because with the Autumn comes an amazing abundance of fruit at its freshest and we are spoilt for choice by the array of flavours and colours that appear in our gardens, hedgerows and on the greengrocer’s shelves.

I have recently started a new job and last week, I had my first team meeting with my new colleagues. To mark the occasion and to share a bit of foodie goodwill, I decided I would take along cake. Well…. it seemed a shame not to use an opportunity to bake, especially as our freezer has broken (again!!) and I am having to avoid producing anything more than we can eat.

It turns out the new team I inhabit has no less than three gluten-avoiders (yay!!), with one also dairy free. I have been wanting to make more dairy free bakes for ages, so I am hoping for plenty of meetings at which I can present my experimental offerings……. Let’s hope they really like eating cake…….

Having been inspired by a few upside down cakes popping up on people’s blogs in the last few weeks, I thought it was about time I joined the fray….. I haven’t made an upside down cake in ages…… I think my last one was actually a delicious savoury version which you can check out here.

Team meeting cake, on the other hand, needs to be sweet and when some very large, fresh, juicy red raspberries caught my eye on a trip to the farm shop, my mind was made up…… this upside down cake needed to be nectarine melba! Red raspberries interspersed with deep orange-yellow nectarines, set into sweet, soft sponge……Yum! I don’t know about you but for some reason, red fruit and especially raspberries, make cake extra appealing and given half a chance, they would find their way into everything I bake.

Then of course there is the peach vs nectarine debate…… When I was little, we didn’t know about nectarines. They weren’t on our radar at all, although apparently they were first brought to England and grown here in the 17th Century (was it warmer then?). We always had peaches, which looked beautifully pink and inviting. Whilst the flesh tasted wonderful….. sweet, soft, juicy, fruity decadence ……they were sadly covered in a tough furry skin which fluffed intrusively against the tongue, and detracted from the enjoyment of eating them.

Nectarines on the other hand seem to be nature’s clever answer to the furry skin dilemma….. they are essentially de-fuzzed peaches, with all the delightful peachy succulence and none of the frizzy irritation.

Whether you fall into the peach or nectarine camp, for me it is a no-brainer. Unless I am making something that necessarily requires the fruit to be skinned, the nectarine wins hands down, every time.

This particular upside down cake is based on a dairy-containing recipe that I have used previously here, but which has been re-jigged to substitute the butter with coconut oil and the dairy milk with almond milk. It makes for a particularly moist, slightly sticky, dense sponge which is quite creamy in texture and is absolutely delicious served warm with whipped coconut cream or dairy free custard as a full-on pudding!

The slight tartness of the raspberry off-sets the sweetness of the sponge and the richness of the coconut oil. Interestingly, when I told my husband it was also dairy free (I had made extra so that we could try a little at home too) he pulled a face like a child who has been told they have to eat greens, complaining that he ‘likes his dairy’. One mouthful later and he was converted! The coconut oil seems to give the sponge an extra depth and silkiness which is dangerously moreish and even he couldn’t resist it!

The team enjoyed it as straight cake…… cold and cut into slices with morning coffee which was also yummy, but quite sticky and I regretted not taking a handful of paper plates with me. Good job there were some leftover agendas looking for a purpose!

Nectarine Melba Upside-Down Cake (gluten & dairy free)

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