Savor the flavors of late summer by making plum upside down cake! Simple ingredients come together quickly to make a grain free, nut free, refined sugar free, and gluten free cake that is also GAPS diet friendly. Swap other suggested fruits to make variations on this easy upside down cake recipe!
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Do you love plums?
I like them, but my son loves them. They are his favorite fruit.
What can you do with plums other than just eating them fresh? They are wonderful to eat fresh, to be sure. They can also make a simple, pretty, delicious dessert without refined sugar. What if you could also make this cake gluten free, grain free, and even GAPS compliant? Without any nuts?
Well, you can, and it won’t take you much time or effort. You won’t even need any special ingredients, except for the coconut flour.
If you are on the GAPS diet, the coconut flour is supposed to be freshly ground just before baking. Otherwise, you can just use commercial coconut flour.
If plums aren’t in season, or just not your thing, you can easily swap in a different fruit. Read on after the recipe for suggestions!
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How to Make Plum Upside Down Cake
Choose about 4-5 plums. You can use whatever variety you like, and try to pick ripe, but not very ripe plums. It is easier to slice them just before they are as ripe as you would want them to be for eating fresh. Wash them, remove the pit, and slice them.
Melt 2/3 C good quality butter. Line a 9″ pan (I like to use a springform pan because it makes inverting the cake almost foolproof, but you can use another, similar sized pan. I have even used an 8″ square pan successfully) with parchment. Add 2 T of the melted butter. Brush a bit of the butter on the sides of the pan, then add 2 T honey and mix it with the butter. It needn’t be perfectly mixed. Arrange the plum slices over the butter and honey. I like to make a pretty pattern, but you can spread them randomly. Just be sure they are fairly evenly distributed.
In a bowl, combine the eggs, remaining honey and butter, baking soda, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon. Mix until very smooth, then add the coconut flour. Pour this batter over the plums, trying not to disturb their arrangement.
Set the pan on a baking sheet (if using a springform, to catch any drips) and bake 35-45 minutes at 350°F, until the cake is done. Cool about 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.
Plum Upside Down Cake
Equipment
- 1 9" springform pan or similar size
- 1 9" circle of baking parchment paper
Ingredients
- 4-5 fresh plums washed, pitted, and sliced
- 6 eggs or 12 egg whites
- 2/3 C grass fed butter melted
- 1/3 C honey
- 1/2 C coconut flour freshly ground for GAPS diet
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp high quality salt
- 1 tsp vanilla or use vanilla powder or vanilla bean scrapings
- 1 tsp cinnamon optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line springform pan with parchment. Pour 2 T melted butter onto the parchment and brush a little butter onto the sides of the pan. Add honey to the butter on the bottom of the pan and stir to mix. It doesn't have to be perfectly mixed.
- Lay the plum slices around the pan on top of the honey and butter mixture. You could do this randomly, or lay them in a circle in a pretty pattern. Try to have them cover the bottom of the pan evenly.
- In a bowl, combine the eggs, remaining honey and melted butter, vanilla, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix thoroughly, then add coconut flour and mix until combined.
- Carefully pour the batter over the plums, trying not to disturb their arrangement.
- Bake 35-45 minutes at 350°F, until a toothpick inserted into the cake emerges dry. A crumb or two is fine.
- Let the cake rest for 10 minutes or so. Then cover with a serving plate, turn over, and remove the sides of the springform pan. Remove the bottom of the pan and carefully peel the paper off.
- Alternatively, you can remove the sides, then invert, then take the bottom and paper off. It also works fine to use a non-springform pan and invert the same way.
- Serve plain, or add cultured cream, whipped cream, whipped coconut cream, or ice cream.
How to Serve
- Slice and serve the slices plain!
- Add a dollop of cultured cream, either sweetened or not.
- If you aren’t on the GAPS diet, try it with whipped cream.
- Make coconut whipped cream for a dairy free option. Use 1 T honey rather than sugar for GAPS.
- Use your favorite ice cream that suits your diet and sounds good with plum cake– vanilla, cinnamon, etc. Or try it with my GAPS vanilla ice cream.
Make Plum Upside Down Cake Your Way!
There are many ways to adapt plum upside down cake. You could:
- Use egg whites rather than whole eggs. That is how I came to develop this recipe– I had too many egg whites left over from using yolks for GAPS recipes. I needed a way to use the egg whites up. I just hate to throw them away! The cake is yellower and prettier with whole eggs. It is frothier and tends to run underneath the plums a bit when made with whites only. I can live with that, since it still tastes good. For company, I would use whole eggs.
- If you aren’t on the GAPS diet, you could use other sweetener. Most types of sugar would work. Coconut sugar is great! Sugar substitutes you normally use in baking would likely work, but I haven’t tried any.
- If you are on the GAPS diet and don’t want to use honey, you could try date syrup or dried dates soaked in water and then processed in a food processor. I haven’t done it that way for this recipe, but I do it for others. I would try half a cup of dates, since dates aren’t as sweet as honey.
- Substitute coconut oil or another fat for butter.
- Play with the flavors in the cake– leave out the vanilla or cinnamon, try almond or lemon extract, use 1/2 tsp cardamon, or try ginger, nutmeg, or cloves. You could add fresh lemon zest for a different twist.
- Add chopped nuts to the batter, or even to the fruit before adding the batter. Pecans, walnuts, almonds…
Don’t want to use plums?
Another way to vary this easy upside down cake would be to use different fruits entirely! The fruit in season is the fruit to use. Or at one you have on hand or need to use up!
- Peaches are just as delicious as plums in this recipe! I like to add a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg to the batter when I make it with peaches.
- Blueberries are much different, but also work well. Just spread them evenly over the pan. I like to add lemon zest and/or lemon extract with blueberries.
- You could use all sort of different fruits, or even a combination. Blackberries, pineapple, pears, nectarines, cherries, maybe even strawberries or raspberries. Why not?!
- You can also use frozen fruit, though frozen plums might be a little unusual. You will want to thaw them first so you don’t wind up with too much moisture.
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