This Recipe Uses One Measuring Cup

This simple recipe for a gluten free upside down cake originates with my husband’s grandmother. This recipe’s uniqueness stems from its usage of mainly one measuring device. A one cup measuring cup, in fact. He told me about this “heaping cup, scant cup” years ago and it fascinated me.

As you’ve seen me state before, measuring flour should be an exact task. One should spoon the gluten free flour into a cup and then level it off. (This Levup from DreamFarm makes that easy with a built in leveler.) However, this recipe throws that knowledge to the wind. If grandma say “heaping cup of flour,” that’s what we’ll do!

How much is a heaping cup of flour? Approximately 1 1/4 cup.

So Easy It Worked the First Time

One thing I wish to accomplish with this blog is to make old things new. To allow you to remake old recipes you loved, before you started this gluten free journey. Also, I want to show that just because we follow a strict diet doesn’t mean there’s not room for creativity.

Would you believe I’ve never made an upside down cake? My grandmother made many cakes when I was a child. However, I don’t remember even eating pineapple upside down cake once. So I decided this would be my year to do so. And when I had leftover cherries from my Gluten Free Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookie photos, I decided it was time.

No cherry pitter? No problem! I simply used a paring knife to cut my cherries into fourths

How Much Baking Powder per Cup of Flour?

So, I wanted to get this gluten free upside down cake started. However, my husband was fast asleep in the recliner, and the recipe was in his noggin’. Therefore, I called my mother-in-law to ask her. Since the quick cake base originated with HER mother-in-law, she wasn’t sure of the ingredients either.

Luckily, he woke up while we were on the phone. As I started to relay the recipe to her over the phone, she started to jot it down herself. None of us were certain on how much baking powder, salt or vanilla. After searching the internet for rations and discussing things further, we arrived at a recipe.

What’s the ratio of baking powder to flour? 1 tsp baking powder per 1 cup flour

How Long Should You Bake an Upside Down Cake?

While we all agreed on the cake portion, the fruit portion left me a bit stumped. I relied heavily on The Kitchn’s “How to Make an Upside Down Cake with Almost Any Fruit.” They state to melt the butter and sugar in the pan, then place the fruit on top. My husband says grandma mixed the fruit in with the sugar.

I did it the Kitchn’s way. They stated to cook it for 40-45 minutes. I did it for 30 minutes. However, when I flipped it over, the center was undercooked. I magically managed to flip it back into the pan and bake it for another 10 minutes, which did the trick. For a rookie, I sure lucked out.

Just Like Grandma Used to Make

Again, never having made a gluten free upside down cake before, I relied on my husband’s taster for an opinion. He stated “That’s exactly what an upside down cake is supposed to taste like!” I’d like to think grandma would be proud.

This is one of just many family recipes I’ve recreated from my husband’s family. If you like lemon, try my mother in law’s Gluten Free Layer Cake filled with homemade Lemon Curd. Prefer chocolate? Try my Gluten Free Wacky Cake recipes, which also happens to be egg and dairy free. Not into sweet stuff? Try Grandpa’s Gluten Free Buckwheat bread recipe.

Print

Gluten Free Upside Down Cake

Equipment

• Cup4Cup Multipurpose Flour, 3 Pound
• OXO Good Grips Cherry & Olive Pitter – Beet

Ingredients

• Heaping cup of gluten free flour blend 1 1/4 cup (I used gluten free Cup 4 Cup flour)
• Scant cup of sugar 3/4 cup
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder

In a one cup measuring cup, mix together

• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp oil
• then fill the rest with milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

For the fruit “topping”

• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 1 c sugar
• 2 cups of fruit I used 10 oz of fresh cherries, quartered

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
• In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. 
• In a one cup measuring cup, add a cracked egg and beat. To that, add 2 tbsp oil of choice, and mix. Finally, fill the rest of that one cup measuring cup with milk. Add to dry ingredients and mix well. 
• Add vanilla to batter and blend. Set aside. 
• In a 9 inch round baking pan, melt butter. I did so placing it in the oven while it heated. To that, I added the sugar, stirred it carefully, and returned it to the oven to stay warm. 
• Prepare your fruit by chopping it into smaller pieces. You should have approximately 2 to 3 cups. I simply used enough to cover the bottom of the pan. 
• Remove warm pan of butter and sugar from the oven, and add fruit on top. 
• Next, pour batter over fruit, and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
• After removing from the oven, place a plate or platter over the top of the pan, and flip it over onto the plate. Do so shortly after removing it from the oven, or the sugar will harden, making it difficult to remove from the pan. 

**Dreamfarm sent me some of their products to try, for free. I was not otherwise compensated for this post. However, this post does contain Amazon affiliate links. Anything purchased through them does credit me with a small portion of the sale. It does not, however, affect your cost.**

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