Upside-Down Orange and Fennel Cornmeal Cake

The farmers’ market at Lake Merritt, in Oakland, is filled with beautiful oranges during the winter and early spring. You’ll find Valencias, blood oranges, navel oranges, satsumas, and more. What better way to showcase those gorgeous oranges than in this upside-down cake, scented with fennel and lightly caramelized.

When making cakes with a coarse meal or flour, such as cornmeal, I use a trick I learned from my grandmother: I let the cake batter sit overnight in the refrigerator, so