Pecan Upside Down Cake

Do you ever want a cake that’s not too sweet?

Me neither.

But some of you do, I know, and it’s my aim to please all tastes and preferences. So if I’m going to serve up a not too sweet cake, then you need to trust that I’m going to make it a good one. I made this the first time about 10 years ago, loved it, and haven’t made it since. I have, however, thought about it a lot. When I lug out my clumsy binder of recipes (it’s clumsy because I seriously need to organize it, what with the 650 scraps of recipes I’ve amassed in the last little while), I often flip by this recipe and think “oh yeah, the pecan cake!” (yes, italics and exclamation marks included in my thoughts). This time around I made the steps infinitely easier (translation: I threw all of the ingredients in the food processor, pretty much). I object to using both the food processor and the stand mixer in the same recipe (well, I will use it, but not without complaining), so easifying this recipe was a bold but necessary move.

Enjoy this cake when you’re all hopped up on other sweets and you’re cool to just snack on a nutty, light cake that doesn’t scream “sugar” (like almost everything else on this site, like the Decadent Deep-Dish Pecan Pie, for example).

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe…

1 1/2 cups pecan halves (about 5 ounces)

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1. Preheat oven to 350°, and lightly spray a 9″ cake pan with non-stick spray.
2. Spread pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet, and toast for about 8 minutes. Allow to cool, then coarsely chop 1/2 cup of the pecans. Throw remaining pecans into bowl of food processor.
3. Place 2 tablespoons butter in prepared cake pan, and heat in the oven until melted (just a few minutes). Remove from oven and evenly sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar over the melted butter. Scatter the chopped nuts over sugar and set aside.
4. In a food processor, process remaining pecans and flour until nuts are very finely ground. Pour into a medium bowl and whisk in baking powder and salt.
5. In the same food processor bowl, process remaining 1/2 cup butter and remaining 1/2 cup white & 1/2 cup brown sugars until light and fluffy (stopping to scrape down sides of bowl a few times). Add eggs, one at a time, until combined (again, scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure all ingredients are “processing”). Add vanilla.
6. Pour flour mixture and orange zest into the food processor with the butter mixture and whirl a few times until combined.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing top, and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes (until a cake tester pulls out mostly clean of crumbs). Allow to cool for about 10 minutes in pan, then turn over onto a serving plate or rack so pecan layer is upright.
Tips:
- Use fresh pecans- you really can tell the difference! (And you must toast them before using, too- no skipping that step.)
- Want a glaze to go over the top? Yeah, screw the whole “not too sweet” thing. Make the brown sugar and butter glaze in the Guilt-Free Mandarin Orange Cake post… or for something easier, just mix a tablespoon or two OJ with a cup of confectioners’ sugar and pour it on the cake… warm or cool.
- No food processor? Well, you can beat your butter & sugar (and then the eggs) with a mixer, but you do need a processor to get the pecans really finely ground, almost like cornmeal. You could always buy pecan meal (basically just ground pecans into a fine flour of its own), and use just shy of a cup of it. If you try it and it works, let me know…
- This freezes well!
- Enjoy…
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January 2nd, 2014 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: Cakes, Nuts