Bourbon Plum Upside Down Cake

Fluffy vanilla bourbon cake topped with upside-down caramelized brown sugar and jammy plums is a nearly effortless yet elegant summer dessert idea.

Summer is my favorite season for a few reasons. First and foremost is my birthday. I'm a true summer baby--born in August--and love the warm weather. In Houston, the scale actually tips more toward sweltering than warm but that's neither here nor there. Another major reason I love the summertime is stone fruit. Peaches, plums, cherries, and the like. They can all get it. It's a personal mission of mine to find the best plums every summer. This year, I transformed two particularly sweet and juicy plums into a whole spiked upside-down cake. A bourbon upside down plum cake, to be specific. The result is something you simply must try. Let's get into the details.

If you like boozy baking ideas, try these next!

• Pineapple Rum Upside Down Cake
• Rum Banana Nut Bread
• Vanilla Bourbon Birthday Cake

This is a simple one-layer cake but it has wonderful layers of flavor. Fruity, jammy plums and a caramelized brown sugar topping perfectly balance out the light, fluffy vanilla bourbon cake. It's a unique upside down cake idea that bakes up in just about 30 minutes and requires no special skills to make. All of the ingredients are common, too. Depending on whether liquor is sold separately where you live, you'll only need need to make one grocery store stop. Here's what you'll need.

Bourbon Plum Upside Down Cake Ingredients

• Fresh Plums
• Flour
• Baking Powder
• Sea Salt
• Cinnamon
• Butter
• Brown Sugar
• Milk
• Eggs
• Vanilla Extract
• Bourbon

And here's a tip on baking with bourbon: be sure to choose a quality bourbon. As most of the alcohol will be baked out, you want good flavor to remain.

How to Flip an Upside Down Cake

Not sure how to flip upside down cake out of the pan? Don't worry. I gotchu! Here are my tips that work every time.

1. Use a non-stick pan. Upside down cake is very buttery so stickiness is rare unless it gets burnt but better safe than sorry, right?
2. Let the upside down cake rest for about 10 minutes before flipping it over.
3. Run a butter knife around the edges of the upside down cake to release any sticky bits.
4. Flip the upside down cake over by placing a plate on top then gently inverting the pan onto it.
5. Let the pan sit on top of the cake for a couple of minutes so all the buttery, brown sugary, fruity goodness seeps into it.
6. Tap the pan a couple of times then gently pull away.

I hope you'll make this plum and bourbon upside down cake before stone fruit season ends. Let me know how you enjoy it in the comments below. And sharing is caring so be sure to pin this recipe on Pinterest. Thanks for reading!

Bourbon Plum Upside Down Cake

Jazzmine from Dash of Jazz

A single layer bourbon vanilla cake topped with crunchy caramelized bown sugar and jammy baked plums

5 from 8 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8 slices

Calories 295 kcal

Ingredients

  

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Upside Down Topping

• ¼ cup butter
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 fresh plums thinly sliced

Cake Layer

• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ⅓ cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons bourbon

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add butter from topping ingredients to a nonstick or prepared round cake pan and place in oven to melt for a couple of minutes.
• Meanwhile, thinly slice plums and set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sea salt in a large bowl.
• In another bowl, mix together butter, sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and bourbon until uniform. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir well so that no dry pockets remain.
• Carefully remove pan from oven and mix brown sugar in with melted butter to create the topping. Arrange plum slices in pan so that they slightly overlap and form a circle.
• Carefully pour cake batter into pan with topping. Place in oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean.
• Let cake sit for about 10 minutes then run a butter knife around the edges of the cake to release any sticky parts from the pan. Invert cake onto a plate by placing the plate on top of the pan and gently flipping.
• Serve warm and refrigerate any leftovers.

Nutrition

Calories: 295kcalCarbohydrates: 46gProtein: 4gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 65mgSodium: 285mgPotassium: 109mgFiber: 1gSugar: 33gVitamin A: 408IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 104mgIron: 1mg

Keyword bourbon cake recipe from scratch, easy plum desserts, fresh plum cake recipes, plum upside down cake, spiked upside down cake

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