Raspberry Upside-Down Cake

I'll be completely honest with you, I planned on posting a dinner recipe.  Dinner was good but there are a few tweaks that I want to make to the recipe before I pass it along to all of you.  I'll work on it and hopefully get back to you next week.  I felt guilty that I haven't posted in a little while so I made this delicious cake. 

The recipe calls for cardamom in the cake.  Cardamom can be a little pricey but it goes  a long way. Most recipes call for no more than 1/4 tsp and thats more than enough.  Cardamom adds a unique flavour that is sweet and fragrant.  You might be tempted to leave it out of the mix but trust me... don't!  Feel free to use the berry of your choice, like strawberry, blueberry or blackberry.  Even pineapple would taste great.

The hubby and I enjoyed a warm slice with a scope of ice cream but I have a feeling the cake will be just as tasty when it's cooled off.  I'll have to find out tomorrow at work, hopefully my co-workers will join me for a slice.

Raspberry Upside-down Cake with Cardamom

makes: one 8-inch cake

Ingredients

For the Topping:

·         2 tablespoons unsalted butter

·         1/4 cup brown sugar

·         1 cup sliced strawberries

For the Cake:

·         1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

·         2/3 cup brown sugar

·         1 large egg

·         1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

·         1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 teaspoon baking powder

·         1/4 teaspoon baking soda

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

·         2/3 cup sour cream

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.      I used an 8-inch round with 3-inch tall sides.  You can also use a 9-inch round with 2-inch sides.

3.      Place butter in the cake pan and place in the oven.  When butter is melted, remove pan from the oven.  Using two pot holders, tilt the pan around and around, coating the sides of the pan with butter.  Once sides are coated, set aside.

4.      In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cardamom.  Set aside.

5.      In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar on medium speed.  Cream until slightly pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Stop mixer, scrape down the bowl with a spatula, and add egg and vanilla extract.  Beat for 1 minute.

6.      Turn the mixer off, scrape the bowl, and add the dry ingredients.  Beat on low speed while adding the sour cream.  Beat until the batter just comes together.  Batter will be pretty thick.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish incorporating ingredients with a spatula.

7.      Sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar into the melted butter in the cake pan.  Sprinkle strawberry slices over the butter and sugar in a single layer.  Spoon batter over the strawberries and spread evenly with a spatula.  Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

8.     Let cake rest for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge of the cake and inverting the cake onto a cake plate.  Serve warm with sweetened sour or whipped cream.

ENJOY!