40 thoughts on “P & Q: Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake”
Im thinking about using pears or apples! This recipe looks amazing~
i used pears and it worked beautifully
Not sure if I was a fan of the streusel layer. It might be better without it, just using the cake base on its own. Besides that, it was delicious!
i liked the streusel, but i agree that the cake would be great on its own.
I ended up using all the streusel as the middle layer and loved the final result! I reduced the sugar for the cake to 1 1/3 cups and used only 1 Tbs white sugar for the fruit layer. The cake did not sink in the middle, it puffed nicely and it was ready for about 65 min in my oven.
Ok, so I made this yesterday and I do have a lot of advice/tips if anyone is interested. I did not have almonds in the house and with the price of nuts being what it is, I substituted the pecans I already had. I also did not bother toasting them beforehand (figured toasting the whole mixture would be enough). My springform pan isn’t really something I feel safe putting on top of the stove, so I melted the butter in the microwave instead, sprayed the pan lightly with Pam, placed a circle of parchment paper in the pan, and poured the butter on top of the paper. I am once bitten twice shy when it comes to getting cakes out of pans. I’ve spent too much time on too many recipes to see things break apart at the end. Parchment paper is my insurance. The cake also was nowhere near done after 50 minutes. It needed 60 in my oven. Lastly, don’t skip the part about wrapping the pan in aluminum foil and placing it on a jelly roll pan. The butter/sugar mixture under the nectarines definitely leaked a bit. Inverting the cake was definitely messy with lots of “caramel” type drippings everywhere, but quite tasty indeed. A little more work than I’m used to, but it’s a keeper. One more thing – the heaviness of the syrupy fruit on top of the delicate chiffon cake caused a bit of sinking in the middle. I think this is normal though, no? Hope this helps!
Thanks for all of the excellent information. Guess being a slow slacker has benefits sometimes….
Thanks for tips Sharon.
One thing that I do…and is somewhat of my baking secret. ROAST THE NUTS. yes, indeed….makes a difference. The key is to not overdo it…about 8 minutes tops in the oven…or on the stovetop.
Carmen
Hi Sharon, I
Thank you for all your great infos.
I made mine last week and it was a total disaster. “Pleased” to read that also your middle “sank” – my middle was like “water” and no dough at all!
I melted the butter in the oven, since we had to preheat it.
I didn’t like the crumble in the middle as for me the taste was too strong.
The dark sugar on the top was bitter and I don’t know why: burned? How come? uncooked in the middle and burned on the base (I cooked it in the middle of the oven).
I’m going to remake it – never give up – and see if the middle bakes better.
What I’m definitely going to do is put a parchment paper on the pan (like I always do), and brush it with a little amount of butter (much less than given in the recipe) and add a mixture of white sugar and light brown sugar (dark brown, I didn’t like it this time- too strong!) – but the amount will also be less than in the recipe.
I have a tarte tatin pan from Emile Henry, but I think it isn’t high enough for this recipe.
Well, let’s hope…
All the best team bakers. See you on Tuesday
Any advice if my springform pan isn’t a 10-incher? I think mine is 9 inches….
i cut the recipe in half and baked it in a standard 8″ cake pan-it worked out perfectly
The batter barely fit in my 10 inch and as it baked it definitely puffed a lot, so I would be concerned that a 9 inch would just be too small to hold it all.
that’s good to know because I was debating between my springform and a 9 inch cake pan. springform it is.
I made this tonight Beautiful!!!!
But–my pan was 9 inches so I put about 2 cups of batter in a small springform, it was a delicious mini cake. Be sure and wrap the bottom of the springform pan in foil as it does drip and put it on a sheet pan to bake. I had to bake my cake about 5-10 minutes longer. I had no problem getting it out of the pan, it did sink in the center but was still beautiful and delicious.
I only used about half of the streusel, I really think it would have been delicious minus the streusel. It’s a cake I will make again.
Read the directions over several times and follow exactly–perfection.
After reading the information from the bakers above, I wiill consider baking the cake in a bundt pan….and I may use just half the streusel, like Cindy Harris did.
Sorry to read that for some it didn’t work out…bummer.
Carmen
Very good! I used apples and it turned out so good!
I am so thankful to read comments from the rest of you — it surely helps those of us who are still trying to get up the nerve to give this a go! Blessings, Catherine
Here’s a link to the video. Great tips on making merengue.
I have a 10″ cake pan and a 9″ springform; I want to use the cake pan. I’m curious of those that used parchment paper on the bottom. I’m concerned that the topping will settle under the parchment. How did it work out for you? Maybe if I cut the parchment a bit larger so it will come up the sides a bit to hold the topping???
Mine didn’t settle too much under the paper. I’d rather have a little oozing than the cake stick and break apart. You may not even need paper, I’m just paranoid like that:)
I made it the first time: a disaster! (see my previous message) – I made it today for the second time and, I apoligise for saying that, but I did not like it at all!
I’m not going to bake it for a third time… sorry to let you down.
(Now I have to go and find some comfort…Mmmm a piece of chocolate may do!)
:-)
Hope you’ll love it!
PS: Is the first time since February that I find a recipe I don’t like…
I thought this was wonderful…I served it to a group of 10 to rave reviews. My only problem was the cake sticking to the sides of the springform pan. I should have run a knife around the edge before releasing it. One of my girlfriends especially adored the streusel layer.
Just finished making the cake…definitely a keeper. This cake on its own is delicious. Since it uses egg whites in the batter, it’s a light cake. Simply beautiful.
I changed a few steps in my cake. First, I used a bundt pan.
For the brown sugar process, I melted the butter in a large measuring cup in the microwave. Cooled it slightly. Mixed the brown sugar with the butter.
Sprayed the bundt pan with PAM, an oil spray. Then added the brown sugar mixture in the bundt pan.
Added the nectarine slices, and sprinkled, toasted, finely chopped pecans on the nectarines slices.
My cake was done in 45 minutes.
After cooling the cake for 25 minutes, I ran a knife along the edges of the cake pan to ensure that the cake would come out of the pan when inverted.
The cake was delicious, soft and spongy…the topping, sweet and tasty. The pecans help cut the sweetness from the brown sugar. The cake is so good it could stand on its own without the topping or fruit.
Thank you bakers for your priceless tips…I omitted the streusel as other bakers did…it was not needed.
Thumbs up for this recipe..
~ Carmen
Okay, I have no idea how or why, but for some reason my cake tastes mildly like sweetened tofu, or it has some type of soy-ish kind if flavour.. The only modifications I had was using light brown sugar instead of dark and adding apricots in with the nectarines, and I’m just slightly confused.. It smells delicious though, and I might be the only one, but I actually really like the streusel..
I don’t know if I’d try making this again just to see if it doesn’t taste like soy the second time around..
That sounds odd, did you use a soy milk product of any kind in your recipe? Were the apricots fresh or dried? I know sometimes they add strange ingredients to dried fruits. ????? Puzzling.
That’s the thing! I have regular unsalted butter, which is the only source of dairy in the recipe.. and I used fresh nectarines and apricots.. My eggs were just grocery store chicken eggs as well..
I am looking forward to this, but all oven usage is on total hiatus until the AC is fixed! We live in N. Tx.- still having very high temps. Natch, all the AC guys are unavailable until after Labor Day holiday!! Ughhhh….
Ugh! I wish I had read all of your comments before I started baking this morning! Mine was nowhere near done after 50 minutes in the oven, but I didn’t realize it until after I let the cake cool and flipped it! Then I realized the whole center was still doughy. So I tried to transfer it back to a baking sheet, but it was so light the thing fell apart on me. Oh well. 15 additional minutes in the oven baked it through and we will just eat it “crumble-style” as it is still delicious.
welcome to the club, Beth … I had the same “dis-ADVENTURE” :-)
I should have read these comments before I started baking. I took mine out, even possibly against better judgement, because the cake was deep dark brown and smelled done. I also let it cool, came back to flip it and the center had sunk. Once I flipped I noticed it was still completely raw batter in the center. The outside of the cake looked perfect. I use an oven thermometer and my oven was at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, so it was not the oven. It’s now back in the oven to see if it can be salvaged at all.
I baked mine about 55 minutes and it came out fine and the center was done. When I pulled it out at 50 minutes, it jiggled a bit in the middle like a cheesecake, so I put it back in. I used white nectarines, so they weren’t as pretty, but the taste is lovely. The whole cake dropped about 3/4 inch as it cooled in the pan.
Tuesday is almost over where I live and still no LYL post? :-)
Tuesdays with Dorie 
Im thinking about using pears or apples! This recipe looks amazing~
i used pears and it worked beautifully
Not sure if I was a fan of the streusel layer. It might be better without it, just using the cake base on its own. Besides that, it was delicious!
i liked the streusel, but i agree that the cake would be great on its own.
I ended up using all the streusel as the middle layer and loved the final result! I reduced the sugar for the cake to 1 1/3 cups and used only 1 Tbs white sugar for the fruit layer. The cake did not sink in the middle, it puffed nicely and it was ready for about 65 min in my oven.
Ok, so I made this yesterday and I do have a lot of advice/tips if anyone is interested. I did not have almonds in the house and with the price of nuts being what it is, I substituted the pecans I already had. I also did not bother toasting them beforehand (figured toasting the whole mixture would be enough). My springform pan isn’t really something I feel safe putting on top of the stove, so I melted the butter in the microwave instead, sprayed the pan lightly with Pam, placed a circle of parchment paper in the pan, and poured the butter on top of the paper. I am once bitten twice shy when it comes to getting cakes out of pans. I’ve spent too much time on too many recipes to see things break apart at the end. Parchment paper is my insurance. The cake also was nowhere near done after 50 minutes. It needed 60 in my oven. Lastly, don’t skip the part about wrapping the pan in aluminum foil and placing it on a jelly roll pan. The butter/sugar mixture under the nectarines definitely leaked a bit. Inverting the cake was definitely messy with lots of “caramel” type drippings everywhere, but quite tasty indeed. A little more work than I’m used to, but it’s a keeper. One more thing – the heaviness of the syrupy fruit on top of the delicate chiffon cake caused a bit of sinking in the middle. I think this is normal though, no? Hope this helps!
Thanks for all of the excellent information. Guess being a slow slacker has benefits sometimes….
Thanks for tips Sharon.
One thing that I do…and is somewhat of my baking secret. ROAST THE NUTS. yes, indeed….makes a difference. The key is to not overdo it…about 8 minutes tops in the oven…or on the stovetop.
Carmen
Hi Sharon, I
Thank you for all your great infos.
I made mine last week and it was a total disaster. “Pleased” to read that also your middle “sank” – my middle was like “water” and no dough at all!
I melted the butter in the oven, since we had to preheat it.
I didn’t like the crumble in the middle as for me the taste was too strong.
The dark sugar on the top was bitter and I don’t know why: burned? How come? uncooked in the middle and burned on the base (I cooked it in the middle of the oven).
I’m going to remake it – never give up – and see if the middle bakes better.
What I’m definitely going to do is put a parchment paper on the pan (like I always do), and brush it with a little amount of butter (much less than given in the recipe) and add a mixture of white sugar and light brown sugar (dark brown, I didn’t like it this time- too strong!) – but the amount will also be less than in the recipe.
I have a tarte tatin pan from Emile Henry, but I think it isn’t high enough for this recipe.
Well, let’s hope…
All the best team bakers. See you on Tuesday
Any advice if my springform pan isn’t a 10-incher? I think mine is 9 inches….
i cut the recipe in half and baked it in a standard 8″ cake pan-it worked out perfectly
The batter barely fit in my 10 inch and as it baked it definitely puffed a lot, so I would be concerned that a 9 inch would just be too small to hold it all.
that’s good to know because I was debating between my springform and a 9 inch cake pan. springform it is.
I made this tonight Beautiful!!!!
But–my pan was 9 inches so I put about 2 cups of batter in a small springform, it was a delicious mini cake. Be sure and wrap the bottom of the springform pan in foil as it does drip and put it on a sheet pan to bake. I had to bake my cake about 5-10 minutes longer. I had no problem getting it out of the pan, it did sink in the center but was still beautiful and delicious.
I only used about half of the streusel, I really think it would have been delicious minus the streusel. It’s a cake I will make again.
Read the directions over several times and follow exactly–perfection.
After reading the information from the bakers above, I wiill consider baking the cake in a bundt pan….and I may use just half the streusel, like Cindy Harris did.
Sorry to read that for some it didn’t work out…bummer.
Carmen
Very good! I used apples and it turned out so good!
I am so thankful to read comments from the rest of you — it surely helps those of us who are still trying to get up the nerve to give this a go! Blessings, Catherine
Here’s a link to the video. Great tips on making merengue.
video.pbs.org/video/2250833509
A clever way to separate eggs. I tried it…it works.
http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/cooking/1160651.html
Clever indeed!
I have a 10″ cake pan and a 9″ springform; I want to use the cake pan. I’m curious of those that used parchment paper on the bottom. I’m concerned that the topping will settle under the parchment. How did it work out for you? Maybe if I cut the parchment a bit larger so it will come up the sides a bit to hold the topping???
Mine didn’t settle too much under the paper. I’d rather have a little oozing than the cake stick and break apart. You may not even need paper, I’m just paranoid like that:)
I made it the first time: a disaster! (see my previous message) – I made it today for the second time and, I apoligise for saying that, but I did not like it at all!
I’m not going to bake it for a third time… sorry to let you down.
(Now I have to go and find some comfort…Mmmm a piece of chocolate may do!)
:-)
Hope you’ll love it!
PS: Is the first time since February that I find a recipe I don’t like…
I thought this was wonderful…I served it to a group of 10 to rave reviews. My only problem was the cake sticking to the sides of the springform pan. I should have run a knife around the edge before releasing it. One of my girlfriends especially adored the streusel layer.
Just finished making the cake…definitely a keeper. This cake on its own is delicious. Since it uses egg whites in the batter, it’s a light cake. Simply beautiful.
I changed a few steps in my cake. First, I used a bundt pan.
For the brown sugar process, I melted the butter in a large measuring cup in the microwave. Cooled it slightly. Mixed the brown sugar with the butter.
Sprayed the bundt pan with PAM, an oil spray. Then added the brown sugar mixture in the bundt pan.
Added the nectarine slices, and sprinkled, toasted, finely chopped pecans on the nectarines slices.
My cake was done in 45 minutes.
After cooling the cake for 25 minutes, I ran a knife along the edges of the cake pan to ensure that the cake would come out of the pan when inverted.
The cake was delicious, soft and spongy…the topping, sweet and tasty. The pecans help cut the sweetness from the brown sugar. The cake is so good it could stand on its own without the topping or fruit.
Thank you bakers for your priceless tips…I omitted the streusel as other bakers did…it was not needed.
Thumbs up for this recipe..
~ Carmen
Okay, I have no idea how or why, but for some reason my cake tastes mildly like sweetened tofu, or it has some type of soy-ish kind if flavour.. The only modifications I had was using light brown sugar instead of dark and adding apricots in with the nectarines, and I’m just slightly confused.. It smells delicious though, and I might be the only one, but I actually really like the streusel..
I don’t know if I’d try making this again just to see if it doesn’t taste like soy the second time around..
That sounds odd, did you use a soy milk product of any kind in your recipe? Were the apricots fresh or dried? I know sometimes they add strange ingredients to dried fruits. ????? Puzzling.
That’s the thing! I have regular unsalted butter, which is the only source of dairy in the recipe.. and I used fresh nectarines and apricots.. My eggs were just grocery store chicken eggs as well..
I am looking forward to this, but all oven usage is on total hiatus until the AC is fixed! We live in N. Tx.- still having very high temps. Natch, all the AC guys are unavailable until after Labor Day holiday!! Ughhhh….
Ugh! I wish I had read all of your comments before I started baking this morning! Mine was nowhere near done after 50 minutes in the oven, but I didn’t realize it until after I let the cake cool and flipped it! Then I realized the whole center was still doughy. So I tried to transfer it back to a baking sheet, but it was so light the thing fell apart on me. Oh well. 15 additional minutes in the oven baked it through and we will just eat it “crumble-style” as it is still delicious.
welcome to the club, Beth … I had the same “dis-ADVENTURE” :-)
I should have read these comments before I started baking. I took mine out, even possibly against better judgement, because the cake was deep dark brown and smelled done. I also let it cool, came back to flip it and the center had sunk. Once I flipped I noticed it was still completely raw batter in the center. The outside of the cake looked perfect. I use an oven thermometer and my oven was at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, so it was not the oven. It’s now back in the oven to see if it can be salvaged at all.
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I baked mine about 55 minutes and it came out fine and the center was done. When I pulled it out at 50 minutes, it jiggled a bit in the middle like a cheesecake, so I put it back in. I used white nectarines, so they weren’t as pretty, but the taste is lovely. The whole cake dropped about 3/4 inch as it cooled in the pan.
Tuesday is almost over where I live and still no LYL post? :-)
Pingback: TWD: Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake « lapetitemiette
Shall we do the LYL here?
http://sweetandthatsit.blogspot.ch/2012/09/nectarine-upside-down-chiffon-cake.html
They will have it up soon, be patient :) It is early morning in the states.
I thought it was great! I baked it for a little longer and it did sink slightly in the middle but that didn’t matter in the end.
Mine sank in the middle a bit, any idea why?