Loquat Upside Down Cake
Between my house and my neighbors, there must be at least 5 loquat trees packed with ripe fruit. And other than eating them straight from the tree, i’m never quite sure what to do with all the loquats. Most of the recipes i’ve found are for loquat jelly or jam, which just isn’t that appealing to me. So I made up my own recipe- Loquat Upside Down Cake. This is a fun, skillet-to-oven dish that takes very little effort and results in a layer of caramelized loquats atop a vanilla-scented cake.
Loquat Topping:
1 Stick Butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
About 30 fresh, ripe loquats, halved and pitted
Cake:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp ground cardamom or cinnamon (optional)
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs at room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk
Equipment: A 10″-12″ ovenproof cast-iron skillet
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
For loquat topping: Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Reduce heat to low, sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter, then cook, without stirring, for 3 minutes. Not all the sugar will be melted. Remove skillet from heat and arrange loquats, cut sides down, in a circular pattern over the brown sugar/butter mixture.
Loquats in the skillet
For cake:
In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and soda, salt and optional spice.
In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 1/2 minutes. Beat in eggs, one and a time until mixture is creamy and has doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk. Beat until just combined.
Gently pour batter over loquats. Bake cake in the middle of the oven until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40-50 minutes.
As soon as cake is done, invert a large plate or pan over the skillet and flip skillet over, inverting the cake onto the plate. Lift skillet off cake and replace any fruit still stuck to bottom of skillet. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Cake will last, covered and refrigerated, for several days. Reheat in a low oven.
I’m way too excited that you used the loqauts. Awesome. Were they a pain in the butt to pit?
It took me about a half an hour to pit them all. Kind of a meditative activity.
You’re a genius.
peeled or unpeeled loquats
Unpeeled is my preference, but peeled will work fine as well.
This sounds absolutely amazing! Our loquats are just coming ripe now and I (like you) have wanted something other than jam to do… especially since our small tree doesn’t have enough fruit to bother with canning (but too much to eat it all by myself, out of hand!) Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome! I use this cake recipe with different fruits each season, but loquats are my favorite…
Just happened to have our first crop of loquats become ripe this week, and no one eats jam here. I made the cake last night- it is amazing!
I used a little of the optional cardamom, and subbed a little sour cream for some butter (1/4 cup) as I ran out of butter. I also added about 1/2 cup of walnuts in with the loquats.
Yummo! Moist and very yummy. Next time I may add a little lemon juice into the loquats to keep them bright and give it a little tartness. Thanks for sharing.
what does a ‘stick of butter’ equal in grams? we don’t use that term in Australia! thanks
A stick of butter equals 1/2 a cup which equals 113 grams.
Fantastic!! Was having a conversation on FB about Loquats and I didn’t know what they were.. since they are the May Apple and they are popping up everywhere.. I shared your recipe.. sounds great!!!
looking forward to trying your recipe. sounds great!
Rosa……… Australia