Blackberry Upside-Down Cake

  4.4 – 63 reviews  • Upside-Down Cake Recipes

Not a sweet or mayonnaise-heavy slaw. The sunflower seeds give the creamy, rich dressing a fantastic crunch and heartiness. Men who dislike vegetables eat this up!

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 45 mins
Additional Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins
Servings: 10
Yield: 1 9-inch cake

Ingredients

  1. ¼ cup brown sugar
  2. 2 tablespoons butter
  3. 2 cups fresh blackberries
  4. ¾ cup white sugar
  5. 1 cup white sugar
  6. ½ cup butter, softened
  7. 2 large eggs
  8. 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  9. 2 teaspoons baking powder
  10. ½ teaspoon salt
  11. ¼ cup milk
  12. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment.
  2. Melt brown sugar and 2 tablespoons butter together in a saucepan over medium heat. Add blackberries to brown sugar mixture; cook and stir until mixture bubbles, 1 to 3 minutes. Stir 3/4 cup white sugar into berries, crush berries slightly with a fork, and continue cooking until berries are hot and slightly broken-down, about 5 minutes more; remove from heat and pour into a 9-inch cake pan.
  3. Beat 1 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup butter together in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy; beat in eggs.
  4. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Alternately stir flour and milk into butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix vanilla into batter.
  5. Pour batter over blackberry mixture in the 9-inch cake pan. Place cake on prepared baking sheet in case of spillage as it bakes.
  6. Bake cake in the preheated oven until cooked through, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cake cool in the pan until warm, but not completely cooled, about 30 minutes. Run a knife along the inside edge of the pan to separate cake from the sides, place a cake plate over the top of the pan, and flip the pan. Lift the pan slowly to release the cake from the pan.
  7. Instead of heating the brown sugar, butter, and blackberries in a saucepan, I heat them directly in the cake pan on the stove.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 351 kcal
Carbohydrate 56 g
Cholesterol 68 mg
Dietary Fiber 2 g
Protein 4 g
Saturated Fat 8 g
Sodium 314 mg
Sugars 40 g
Fat 13 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Monica Santana
More cobbler than cake. Cake mixture is too thick to pour over top.had to spoon it out little by little. Very dissappointed.
Vanessa Perkins
So I read the reviews and followed some suggestions. First I cut the amount of white sugar in both the berries and the cake by a third. Second, I used a springform pan, but I caution you that the topping is very liquid and will run, so make sure you put it in a rimmed cookie sheet!! Third, I used a 12 inch pan and three cups of berries since I had a larger surface to cover but left the cake recipe the same. My finished cake is larger and thinner which means more berries and less cake per serving! Fourth, I let the berry topping cool before putting into the cake pan, and did not mash the berries at all. When assembling the cake use a serving spoon to put the cake batter in plops onto the berries and use a small spoon to spread the batter over the berries evenly. If you tried to pour it, I think it would turn into a mixed up mess (which one of the reviewers said happened to them). We had this with vanilla ice cream and it was fabulous!
Gabrielle Fisher
I made this for my husbands birthday. It was a huge hit. I reduced the sugar in both the topping and the cake and it was still too sweet. Also, I used non-dairy substitutes for the butter and milk that were an easy swap. I wish there were an easy way to remove the seeds, that would make it so much better. Served it with vanilla non-dairy ice cream to balance the sweetness. It would have gotten more stars if it weren’t so sweet. Nobody needs that much sugar.
Jamie Taylor
Perfect Valentine’s cake! SOO good!! Very easy to make and turned out perfect. I made this exactly as is and wouldn’t change a thing. I love the way the blackberry sauce runs down the sides. It’s also really pretty. The cake part turned out moist and fluffy. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Jessica Harmon
Awfully sweet – but good! Made it again! This time I cut back the topping sugar to 1/2 cup and used more berries. The sugar in the cake I cut back to 3//4 cup. I used aa deep 10 inch pie plate. A I used two table knives to get the batter onto the berries. A very good cake!!
Gary Mullins
Berries are way too sweet, could probably halve the white sugar at least. Don’t crush the berries like the recipe says to or they won’t be solid enough to hold up the cake. Cake batter is way too thick to pour over the berry soup I was left with and the whole thing turned into a hideous cake island mess and it was a disaster to try to salvage it. Will not ever be using this recipe again.
Sarah Mckay
Kids loved it!
Christopher Hogan
This turned out great for me! Because a few people had commented about how dense the cake batter was, I added a few extra tablespoons as I was making it. I also cheated and added a bit of extra blackberries, butter and brown sugar (because I LOVE topping!), but once it came out, it turns out I didn’t need it. Next time I make it, I will just use the regular portions. The other piece of advice is to make sure it bakes long enough. You’ll want it fully cooked. I ended up baking mine for about 45 minutes, which meant the edges were golden brown, slightly crispy and great. Served it warm with vanilla ice cream and LOVED the final result.
Debra Swanson
I made this and it was wonderful
Tommy Holder
This turned out amazing and was a huge hit! I am making it again this evening but I am going to cut back on some of the sugar in the blackberries and add some lemon zest.
Annette Stewart
I haven’t eaten any yet, I made it for Mother’s Day!
Carrie Thompson
I must have done something wrong.. when I turned it upside down, the cake stuck to the pan!! I had to use a knife to scrape it off!!
Shawn Harrison
I was very disappointed. Maybe it was just me, but t he cake turned out very heavy and was way to sweet.
Megan Matthews
can be made with frozen berries, as well
Lauren Ortiz
It was delicious, but next time I’ll line my cake tin with parchment paper.
Johnny Bryant
This recipe came out great. The cake had great texture as well. Ill definitely be making this again.
Roberto Campbell
The first cake I ever made. I picked the berries locally and the result was marvelous. I try to make it at least once while blackberries are in season.
Kenneth Singh
I made this recipe pretty much as is except that I used 3/4 cup of sugar for the batter and used 1/3 c of milk instead. I agree with the reviewers who say that this recipe could definitely benefit from less sugar in the batter. Honestly, the sugar used for the blackberry topping is just enough to make up for the sugar you can cut from the batter. With that said, I could have used 1/2 cup of sugar and still the cake would taste sweet enough. My blackberries were on the bland side so the sugar the recipe called for the topping made up for the blandness of the fruit: thus, balancing the recipe throughout. Here are my suggestions to balance the sugar of the recipe: Consider the sweetness of your blackberries and the amount of WHITE sugar on the batter. If you use sweet blackberries, you can cut off some of the WHITE sugar to 3/4c. Then, use about 1/2 cup of sugar for the batter. If your berries are bland or bitter, make the topping as is and cut the sugar of the batter to 1/2cup. My other suggestion regardless of the sugar content is to make a bit of whipped cream icing (Chantilly Cream) for decoration. It will be a nice decorative touch on the side and will neutralize any excess of sweetness. Overall, this recipe with a little tweaking of the sugar content, is just very nice. The cake is very dense and accompanies the topping very well. Be patient when pouring the batter. Pour it in little mounds and level it carefully. If you have a spring foam pan, it will be the perfect to
Matthew Hickman
I made it with raspberries and had to use sour cream as we had no milk! Gorgeous colour and the smell is amazing!
Jessica Robinson
This is a really great recipe! Not too sweet, like some others. Light and fluffy when served fresh, but it gets denser if left in the fridge because the juices soaked in it. But great either way! Will definitely try with different fruits too! 🙂
Laura Brown
Easy and excellent…the cake was delicious. I will try this again with a variety of fresh fruits, love the tang of the lemon.

 

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