Comments on: cherry cornmeal upside-down cake

By: Nancy

Nancy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:34:30 +0000

Delicious. I used a heavy, well seasoned cast aluminum 11 skillet. Came out great, but was fully cooked in under 35 minutes. ( My oven is pretty accurate)

I would watch bake time if using cast iron or skillet vs. cake pan. It would be a complete shame to burn such a yummy cake :)

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 18 May 2009 01:24:19 +0000

As ordered by a new-mommy friend with a sweet tooth, I substituted dried halved apricots for the cherries in this recipe (though I don’t like tweaking recipes before trying the original). I also added three little grates of lemon zest to the batter. It’s really nice and I’d make it again, but I can’t wait to make it with the cherries. The cake itself is wonderful – nice and fluffy, and I love that little bit of cornmeal texture. (My cast iron pan is only 8 inches, so I had to make a wee ramekin cake for myself. Pity, huh?)

By: deb

deb — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:53:41 +0000

I would probably just let them defrost and use the recipe as planned.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:11:03 +0000

So in the narrative you say you’re going to give up if you can’t find frozen cherries, but then Alex brought home fresh ones. How would you change this recipe if you ARE using frozen cherries?

By: JENI

JENI — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:18:55 +0000

I just made this cause husband claim that he had never had an “upsidedown cake”. “honey? you always turn your cakes upside down when frosting, what’s the difference?” guah…

It was good, i used some wwpastry flour and a cake pan. I had to reduce some of the cherry juice tough… yum… had it for breakfast… it gets a bit dry the day after- i’ll put some topping on it tonite.

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:56:58 +0000

Just found your site via this recipe – which I made last night for a party. I was almost out of vanilla so I added some almond extract which worked nicely with the cherries. Also, I made a topping with greek yogurt, lemon zest, lemon juice and a bit of sugar. It was a nice addition. I just had the last small slice for breakfast. yum. I look forward to exploring the rest of your site! cheers.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:27:34 +0000

Deb–I love your site and your wit! I ran across this searching for recipes with cornmeal in them (since I have so much of it for some reason), and can’t wait to try this cake (reputation aside). Next time you need brown sugar–try making your own. I did this for the first time recently and it turned out great. Just 1-2 tbsp. of molasses for one cup of granulated sugar. You may need more for dark brown sugar. I may never buy pre-made brown sugar again…but will definitely consider a cherry pitter.

By: Petra

Petra — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:02:38 +0000

Woohoo! This cake is delicious. I have a cast iron skillet that I hadn’t used yet, so broke it in with this recipe. I was already in the thick of things when I realized that my flour bin contained a mix of half white, half whole wheat flour. Oh well, maybe it would be a leaden cake, but it’s all I had so in it went. Upon sampling the cake, I couldn’t even tell there was any whole wheat flour in it at all. It is so light and fluffy and really really delicious. This is a very sweet cake, though, so next time I might scale back on the sugar. Or try to use less sweet cherries. But still, as you said, killer good!

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:59:51 +0000

I take it back — everyone loved it.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:07:36 +0000

I made it last night at 9 pm. No skillet, no maryann pan — just a big foil pie pan. I had fresh cherries, pitted with a knife. I must say mine did not turn out so great. My pie pan was too shallow (I know, I know, you’re saying it’s not an upside down pie, it’s a cake, so why use a pie pan — but I did it anyway, so there). So the batter overflowed and I lost a lot of it. This meant the cherries, which are SUPER sweet sort of overpower the cake (which is also super sweet). I just tasted the edges because I am supposed to take this to someone’s house tonight – a good enough friend that if it fails, I won’t lose face. Anyway, what I tasted is like eating caramel. So I think I’ll put some unsweetened whip cream on it or maybe some almonds just to try to kill some of the sweetness. Sigh. . .