Nectarine-Raspberry Upside Down Gingerbread Cake

When I bit into this cake, the first thing that went through my head was: "It's like Christmas Meets July." Before I even picked up the ingredients, I was intrigued by the idea of pairing summer fruit with gingerbread. Would it work? Suffice it to say, David Lebovitz is a man who knows dessert so I put my trust in him: all of it. Because when you're baking a cake for a 13 year old's birthday, you better make sure that it will work.

Having recently received his latest book, Ready for Dessert (one of the many cookbooks I got for my birthday), I'd been itching to try some of his creations. As we're only a few days away from August, I'm reminded that my favorite summer fruits are fleeting, so I really wanted to bake something that would elevate my bounty of berries and stone fruit.

I'm not sure who invented the Upside Down cake but he/she is a genius in my book. Baking fruit at the bottom of a cake pan achieves something brilliant: caramelized, oozy, gooey, buttery, sugary fruit that doesn't in any way weigh down the cake, which bakes over the fruit medley. Once the cake is slightly cooled, it is inverted to display the beautiful fruit arrangement on top. Upside down cakes can be made with any number of fruit. What really drew me to this recipe, though, was not only the upside down fruity goodness, but the cake itself--a moist gingerbread--one of my favorite winter-time treats.

The combination was really another one of those food revelations. Paired with some homemade whipped cream, every bite revealed a new dimension: almost jam-like raspberries, aromatic ginger and clove, creamy accent. I tend to shy away from making a dessert too many times--let's face it: you don't want to read about my cinnamon rolls AGAIN. But with this cake, well, I just might have to.

Nectarine-Raspberry Upside Down Gingerbread Cake
*adapted ever-so-slightly from Ready for Dessert, David Lebovitz's latest book

For the fruit topping:

4 tablespoons of butter
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1 1/4 cup of fresh, ripe raspberries
3-4 medium-ripe white or yellow nectarines, pitted and cut into 1/2 inch slices

For the gingerbread cake:

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1 teaspoon of baking soda
two pinches of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, softened
1/2 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of molasses (not blackstrap)
2 large eggs (at room temperature)
1/4 cup of room temperature milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Place the butter for the fruit topping in a 9 inch round cake pan and set it directly on a burner. Melt the butter over low heat, then stir in the brown sugar. Remove from the burner and let cool while you prep the fruit.
3. Evenly distribute the raspberries over the brown sugar/butter mixture. Then, arrange the nectarine slices on top of the raspberries, in overlapping circles.
4. Make the gingerbread cake: whisk the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 3-5 minutes (until it is light in texture and color).
6. Beat in the molasses, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure all of the ingredients are fully incorporated.
7. Mix in half of the dry ingredients from the bowl. Stir in the milk, then mix in the rest of the dry mix until just incorporated.
8. Distribute the cake batter over the fruit, evening it out with a spatula.
9. Bake the cake for about 45-55 minutes (be careful not to let the top burn). Test for doneness by inserting a wooden toothpick into the center of the cake (if it comes out clean, it's done).
10. Let the cake cool slightly before running a knife along the edges and inverting it onto a plate.
11. Serve warm, with homemade whipped cream.

*Note: if you make the cake ahead of time like I did, place it in a warm oven on an oven-proof plate for about 5-10 minutes.

Musical Pairings: Blackbird Blackbird - Summer Heart LP + Nectarine-Raspberry Upside Down Gingerbread Cake

Mikey S. (a.k.a. Blackbird Blackbird) has proven to be one of the hardest working men in the San Francisco music scene in the past few months. In the span of a few short months, he released a slew of singles including a completely re-worked and re-outfitted drifting cover of Modest Mouse's "Float On," a free EP, a number of fantastic remixes, DJed a fantastic show at Sub-Mission in San Francisco, and released his debut album entitled Summer Heart LP. Not bad for a former punk drummer whose electro-pop career seemingly spawned out of nowhere. But don't let the limited resume lead you to believe he hasn't put a lot of heart into these tracks. In fact, Summer Heart is an amazingly solid collection of laid-back, twinkling beat-induced rhythms and shimmering melodies. Like the luscious raspberry and nectarine upside-down gingerbread cake that Kasey is featuring on eating/sf, this album is so good and so "now" it'll get stuck in your head for days. Read more at Musical Pairings. --Matthew

Food Revelations: Green Beans with Smoked Paprika

Food revelations. I love having those. When you discover that putting sliced cucumbers in water instantly jazzes up a plain old pitcher. Grilling a peach and topping it with whipped cream is one of the easiest ways to create dessert without actually baking anything. Baking bread can be as simple as mixing flour, yeast, salt and water and letting the mixture sit in a bowl for 12 hours.

A revelation doesn’t have to be grand. I believe that revelations can be humble reminders that taking risks can often pay off. One of my latest revelations was the spur-of-the-moment decision to toss some briefly blanched green beans with some smoked paprika (one of my favorite spices in the my spice cabinet). Green beans are fairly flexible—they can be sautéed, blanched, chopped, shredded and baked. They pair well with meat and fish, add crunch to a salad and play a pivotal role in the ever-so-beautiful salade nicoise.

Typically, when I make green beans, I blanch them briefly in boiling water (until they’re slightly tender, but still have that slight crunch) before tossing them with olive oil and sea salt. Sometimes I add some toasted nuts. But rarely do I add spices…until one weeknight a few weeks ago, when a jar of smoked paprika sneakily rolled out of my cabinet and planted an idea in my head.

I followed my usual procedure (blanching the beans, then tossing them with olive oil and large-grain sea salt) but this time, I added about a teaspoon of paprika to the mix (along with some freshly-squeezed lemon juice). Instantly, my green beans were transformed into a smoky, crunchy, salty, nutritious side dish.

I imagine you change the amount of paprika and lemon that you add for varying degrees of smokiness and citric acidity. Next time you have a bag of green beans sitting in your fridge, give that old routine a kick.

Green Beans with Smoked Paprika

about 2 cups of green beans, trimmed and cut in half
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
large grain sea salt, to taste
freshly-grated pepper, to taste
2-3 tablespoons of good quality extra-virgin olive oil
freshly-squeezed lemon juice

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil.
2. Blanch the green beans briefly in the boiling water (no longer than 5 minutes), until they're slightly tender but still a bright green color.
3. Drain the green beans in a colander, then transfer to a medium bowl. For an additional layer of flavor, squeeze in about half a teaspoon of lemon juice over the beans. Sprinkle with additional sea salt.
4. Toss well with the olive oil, sea salt, paprika and pepper. Serve warm.

Musical Pairings: Elliott Smith - Either/Or + Green Beans with Smoked Paprika

Some great recipes are complex and nuanced, and some great recipes are simpler but every bit as tasty. Green beans with smoked paprika and sea salt clearly fall in to that latter category, but that doesn't make this recipe any less fun than a recipe with ten times as many ingredients. In fact, sometimes it can be delicious to discover a new way to put together simple, traditional ingredients in a way that still feels new and exciting. This is true for music, too. For example, most of the songs on Elliott Smith's Either/Or consist of little more than a sparse drum set, acoustic guitar or piano, and Smith's vocals. Indeed, every instrument on Either/Or album was performed by Smith himself. Nonetheless, the fantastic collection of songs compiled here couldn't be more breathtakingly beautiful if there had been a gifted supporting band and lush instrumentation. Indeed, Either/Or proved that Smith was unparalleled in his ability to craft simple, unadorned pop masterpieces. More at Musical Pairings. --Matthew