Alan Davidson

Upside Down Cake

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

upside down cake (upside down pudding) is a creamed cake (see cake-making) which is turned out after baking so that the base becomes the top, displaying a decorative pattern composed of fruit; pineapple rings and glacé cherries are popular choices. It is usually eaten warm, with custard.

The name may also be used for finished cakes which are pressed with syrup and fruit in a mould and then turned out for serving, and a similar principle is employed in some ice cream desserts and tarte tatin.

Generally, the concept of upsidedownness has had only limited applications in the kitchen, but it is used quite often for savoury moulds, where the artificer desires a pleasing pattern of vegetables or prawns or whatever to appear on top of the item when it has been unmoulded.