An upside-down cake is a cake that is baked "upside-down" in a single pan, with its toppings at the bottom of the pan. When removed from the oven, the finished upside-down preparation is flipped over and de-panned onto a serving plate, thus "righting" it, and serving it right-side up.
An upside-down cake is a cake that is baked "upside-down" in a single pan—usually a skillet—with the eventual toppings placed in the bottom of the pan. When removed from the oven, the finished upside-down preparation is flipped over and de-panned onto a serving plate. Flipping the cake before serving puts the right-side up, so that the ingredients that were in the bottom of the pan are the toppings.[1] Usually chopped or sliced fruits—such as apples, cherries, peaches, or pineapples[2] [3] —butter, and sugar are placed on the bottom of the pan before the batter is poured in, so that they form a baked-on topping after the cake is inverted. A simple cottage pudding cake batter may be used.[4]
The first American recipes for upside-down cake, using prunes, appeared in newspapers in 1923.[5] [6]
Traditional upside-down preparations include the American pineapple upside-down cake, the French Tarte Tatin,[7] and the Brazilian or Portuguese bolo de ananás (also known as bolo de abacaxi). In the United States, pineapple upside down cakes became popular in the mid-1920s after Dole Pineapple Company sponsored a contest for pineapple recipes.[8] [9] They received over 2,500 various submissions for the inverted pineapple cake and ran an advertisement about it, which increased the cake's popularity.[10] [11]