Fruity Upside Down Magic Cake

Recently I've been playing around with making renditions of a childhood favorite dessert that my mom used to make and I always enjoyed. She simply called it ✨ Magic Cake✨. 

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This started with me thinking up ways to use seasonal fruit in new ways after a few trips to you-pick farms ended up with way more fresh fruit than we could consume in a few days. First fruit rendition involved peaches, but it came out overall too wet, I had messed with the recipe a bit too much and including applesauce was not a good idea. An important lesson learned, I find that yogurt is a better way to lighten up the butter in the recipe.

Inspired by the classic strawberry rhubarb flavor combination, I made this recipe by laying strips of rhubarb at the bottom of a large loaf pan lined with parchment (4" x 9") and I baked it briefly to soften just slightly as I couldn't get them to lay flat otherwise. I then layered thinly sliced strawberries on top and moved on to the actual magic cake. 

I can't help but feel the recipe originally came about by accident, but what a happy accident it is. Essentially, it's your classic pound cake technique of whipping butter+sugar, adding the yolks, flour, and milk then folding in the egg whites whipped separately for a light, springy texture. But someone somewhere may have gone heavy handed with their milk measurement and this was born. As the base of the batter is quite liquid before the egg whites go it, it separates beautifully in the oven and creates these layers of separation with distinct textures - a denser, rich custard on the bottom, a light, milky custard in the middle, and a fluffy springy cake layer on top. It's magic because it's a one bowl batter that bakes into a 3 layer cake. The strawberry rhubarb cake would present these layers in reverse as I planned it to be an upside down cake of sorts.

I adapted the recipe from the magic cake write-up on the Jo Cooks blog to remind me of the proportions my mom used. My mom's key to getting the light springy cake on top (on the bottom if you do an upside down version like this) is to start the cake in a hotter oven and finish cooking in softer heat - her old recipe helpfully said "somewhat hot, then moderate heat. It turns out with the right steady heat that's not really necessary, so that's one thing I don't have to worry about anymore - preheat the oven to 325F to get it ready.  I tried for an ombre look but as it was on the bottom the colors blended a bit more than I'd like. Also a bit unexpected (but really cool), the layer of strawberries floated up as they baked and settled right in the middle layer, so it's beautifully layered top to bottom rhubarb-custard-strawberry custard-cake. 

Start out by separating the eggs - set aside the whites for the moment and whisk up the yolks with the sugar until fluffy and lightened up in color. Add in melted (and cooled) butter and vanilla and whisk some more, then mix in all the flour until well incorporated. Finally, gradually add warm milk until well combined - the warmth of the milk helps maintain a smooth texture at this stage. With a clean whisk (or mixer beaters), whip up egg whites and cream of tartar until lightened up, then continue whisking at high speed until you get stiff peaks. Don't overwhip or it will separate and not hold its volume. Fold the meringue in the batter in stages until no lumps of egg whites remain, it's ok if it's not completely incorporated or if there seems to be batter at the bottom of the bowl, it's meant to separate a bit as it bakes anyway. Pour into lightly greased or parchment lined pan and bake for 40-60 minutes - times vary based on the material of your baking dish, oven temperature stability and overall thickness, but you're looking for a lightly golden color on top and set on the edges, but still wobbly in the middle. It will set perfectly as it chills in the fridge.

A further variation that I love is the chocolate take on it - simply sub out half the flour for cocoa powder, the richer the cocoa the more chocolatey the final result you'll have. I made the chocolate version you see here with peach and pineapple for a golden-dark striped look to honor World Honey Bee Day, it was also sweetened with honey alone, so yummy! Since I used the cake ring and parchment, I didn't invert it either so it's a reversed upside down cake aka regular cake with fruit on the bottom and middle :)

Garnished for serving with white chocolate honeycomb and a honey dark chocolate patty, you can never have too much chocolate!

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Fruity Upside Down Magic Cake

Makes a 6" square or large loaf (4"x9")

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp greek yogurt
• 6 tbsp flour
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• (Optional) fruit of choice - peach, strawberries etc

Method

1. Preheat oven at 325F and line you baking pan with parchment paper (or oil lightly, pieces won't come out quite as cleanly though).
2. Melt butter in the microwave and set it aside to cool slightly. Measure out yogurt to come to room temperature. Warm up milk 40 seconds in the microwave as well to prepare for use.
3. (Optional) Thinly slice any fruit you want to use and line the bottom of the baking dish with it in a thin and even layer.
4. Separate eggs into two bowls, yolks in the larger one. 
5. Whisk yolks with sugar until fluffy and paler in color.
6. Add butter and vanilla, whisk well.
7. Incorporate flour, then gradually whisk in milk until smooth.
8. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar and a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form.
9. Gradually fold into the batter until most of the meringue is incorporated, don't overmix.
10. Pour into prepared pan and bake until edges are set and top is lightly golden. It should still be wobbly in the middle when it comes out of the oven.
11. Let it come to room temperature before setting in the fridge several hours or overnight. Serve chilled or take out a few minutes early to warm up slightly.

Notes

• I have tried this recipe with several fruit already - if it's baking friendly (i.e. you can include it in a cake/pie), then it will probably work ok for this as well, your limit is your imagination!
• You can go full butter and just use 4tbsp of butter in the recipe. Any milk is ok, I love using a nut milk but full fat dairy will yield a richer result.
• For the chocolate variation, I used 3 tbsp of flour and 3.5 tbsp of cocoa for a rich color and flavor.
• I wrote up the recipe for the basic sugar version, I've used maple syrup and honey as 1:1 substitute before and it turned out great. Note that the yolks won't really whisk up in volume or turn pale with a liquid sweetener, and the cake will be a little more custardy and have a thinner cakey layer as a result, but equally delicious.