Upside Down Apricot Cake

I am sorry to all you subscribers who are sick of my cake posts.

After 10 years, I have been making the same dinners and the only thing new in my repertoire lately are cakes! I'm getting good at this baking thing.

I love an upside down anything cake.

But the funny thing is, I have never made the original version, a PINEAPPLE upside down cake!
I will, give it time.

I found beautiful fresh local apricots at the farmer's market recently and I knew a cake had to be made.

I have never tried a fresh apricot. Truth.

When I was a kid, my grandmother always put out a tray of dried fruits and nuts (a Jewish thing), and I hated those bitter, shriveled up orange things called apricots.

It was time to try a fresh one.

The beautiful fresh apricots worked beautifully in this buttermilk cake, and I highly recommend you make this cake (I say that with all the cakes I post!).

I added fresh local cherries to the centers of the apricot halves for aesthetics.

This one is winner.

My neighbor said it was so delicious, it brought tears to her eyes, she said it reminded her of her Austrian grandmother's apricot cake.

The highest compliment. :)

Fresh Apricot Upside Down Buttermilk Cake (loosely adapted from Epicurious):

For topping:

1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
10 or 11 small (2- to 2 1/4-inch) fresh apricots (1 1/4 lb), halved lengthwise and pitted
cherries for the center of the apricots (optional)

For cake:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I did 1 cup flour + 3/4 cup almond flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk

Special equipment: a 9-10 inch well-seasoned cast-iron or heavy nonstick skillet (at least 2 inches deep).

Cook the butter and sugar on the stove top. Using a silicone spatula, spread the mixture until it becomes a thick brown caramel.

Lay your apricot halves (with cherry in the center of each half) in a pretty pattern face down in the caramel. Turn off the heat.

You can do this step way in advance. It doesn't matter if the caramel hardens.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Wet ingredients (eggs, butter, sugar, extracts) in another bowl.

Slowly pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix to make a batter.

Add in the buttermilk last and combine thoroughly.

Pour this mixture over the face down apricots in the caramel and carefully spread the batter.

Bake 35 minutes in a 375F preheated oven.

Let rest only 5 minutes in the pan then run a knife around the edges to make sure nothing is stuck.

With 2 pot holders, flip the cake onto the appropriate size serving platter.

Don't worry if some of the fruit sticks to the pan, you can repair it easily, but mine came out of the pan like a dream.

This is a pretty and delicious cake.

We loved it....so what else is new?