Memorial Day Kickoff

Memorial Day is a day to honor our fallen soldiers. Our nation should do more to take care of our armed forces including the family they have left behind. That is another item to think about when going to the polls.

I think of summer as the days between Memorial Day and Labor Day. To kick it off I am sharing a good upside down cake for the season. This is the first of many.

I substituted a bit of almond flour in this cake. You can substitute 1 to 1 almond flour for white flour but it does take longer to bake. It is almost polenta like in texture. I did something you are not supposed to do which is triple the recipe and screw around with it. Thankfully it worked.

Here is one 9″ cake. It came from Saveur but I made those changes which are below.

• 12 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• ³⁄₄ cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 cups blueberries
• ¹⁄₂ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup almond flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ¹⁄₄ tsp. kosher salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, separated
• zest of one lemon
• ¹⁄₂ cup whole milk
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. cream of tartar

Heat oven to 350°. In a small saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and cook until molten and partially dissolved. This happens quickly. Pour the sugar into a 9-inch round cake pan, and then add the blueberries, spreading them evenly across the pan. I put parchment paper on the bottom and around the sides to make sure it would not stick when I flipped the cake in the end.

In a medium bowl, whisk both flours with the baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat the remaining 8 tablespoons butters and the granulated sugar with a handheld mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and egg yolks, and beat until evenly combined. Here I added a zest of one lemon and then squeezed some lemon juice in too. Add the dry ingredients followed by the milk and beat on low speed until a smooth batter forms.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar with a handheld mixer on medium-high speed until they form stiff peaks. Using a large rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the cake batter until just combined, and then spread the batter over the blueberries in the pan, smoothing the top.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, it took almost an hour and a half but don’t freak. It is the almond flour. If you want you can just use 1 1/2 cups of flour. Transfer the cake to a rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Place a serving platter over the pan and invert the two together. Let the pan sit upside down on the platter for 5 minutes, and then remove the pan. These last two steps are key. Let the cake cool completely on the platter. Serve whipped cream or vanilla ice cream with the the cake.

It is a winner!