Upside-down cake

I am all for easy. I hate recipes that take a long time and are complicated to execute. I don't have the time or the patience. I will leave those recipes to the professionals.

So I was very happy to find this recipe in Food and Drink magazine. The original recipe is for plums and raspberries but I had lots of plums, apricots and blackberries from the garden to use. You will need a spring form pan for this recipe though.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 sticks of room temperature unsalted butter
1/3 cup of packed brown sugar
6 medium apricots
3 large plums
1/2 pint of blackberries
(OR in the original recipe it calls for 6 medium plums and 1/2 pint of raspberries)
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup of sour cream (I used 2% yogurt instead)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease a round 8 1/2 inch by 2 1/2 inch spring form pan (I believe mine was 9" by 3" and it worked too). Line the greased pan with parchment paper. Melt two tablespoons of butter and pour into lined pan. Using a sieve, sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the melted butter. Cut the plums and apricots in half and remove the pit. Place the halves cut side down in the pan on top of the brown sugar. Squeeze in as many as possible to allow for shrinkage while baking. Fill in the gaps with the blackberries and set aside.

Sift flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder together; set aside. With an electric mixer cream the remaining butter and the granulated sugar until well blended. Add in vanilla extract and mix. Add the egg yolks one at a time ensuring that you mix well after each addition. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add in the sour cream (or yogurt), and mix. Then add the remaining flour mixture and blend.

Spoon the cake batter on top of the fruit in the pan and spread it evenly using a small spatula. Place the pan on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any juices and put it in the oven. Bake for 60-70 min, insert a toothpick into the cake to ensure the baking is done. If it comes out clean then remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Let cool for an hour. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen cake and invert on a serving plate.

Easy Bread recipe

I got this from the blog "Good Cheap Eats". Its a really quick and easy bread recipe that you can alter.

Ingredients:

4 cups of flour (I used 2 of reg. flour and 2 of whole wheat)
3 tbsp sugar (I use organic cane sugar) + 1 tsp for the yeast
1 1/2 cups of water warmed (to 100F if you have a thermometer)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 pkg of yeast or 2 tsp from a jar (follow the directions to get the yeast active)

** you can add herbs, dried fruit and nuts to this recipe easily

Directions-

activate the yeast following the directions on the label (this usually needs 10min to sit). Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. add olive oil and yeast (once its foaming). combine together until you have a nice dough ball. cover the bowl with a moist towel and let sit in a warm spot for 30 min to proof. once proofed, knead the bread for about 5 min then
place in greased bread pan. Or just leave in a large boule and cook as is. preheat oven to 350F and cook bread for about 30 min or until the crust is golden brown and the bottom is hardened.