Recipe Gallery

Upside-down Damson Cake

Damson season is quite a big deal in Luxembourg. There are Quetschefester (damson fêtes) taking place throughout the country where you can sometimes see how they cook Quetschekraut (damson ‘kraut’, a jam of sorts) the old-fashioned way in huge copper caldrons (you can watch me do that in this episode of my show).

I always make sure I make lots of Quetschentaarten (damson tarts) while the fruit is in season – a simple yeast dough topped with damson quarters and dusted with icing sugar just before serving (my recipe can be found here).

But this year I’m looking for other ways to work damsons into my cakes. And this upside-down damson cake is perfect! Lots of juicy fruit cooks at the bottom of a cake tin, topped with a light cinnamon-scented yoghurt cake batter. Once it’s out of the oven and cooled down, you just turn the cake upside-down, and you have it: a super moist and tasty damson cake that will make a change from the traditional Quetschentaart.

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Ingredients

30g cassonnade
650g damsons
90g butter
140g sugar
2 eggs
100g yoghurt
160g flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon or Anne’s Sweet Spice
a pinch of salt

Method

Makes 1 cake in a 24cm spring form

Preheat the oven to 160°C fan.

Line a 24cm springform with baking paper. Distribute the cassonnade over the base.

Cut open the damsons, remove the stone and quarter. Distribute the damsons over the base (no need to make a nice pattern as they will completely soften).

Mix the butter with the sugar, whisk in the eggs one at a time, then add the yoghurt. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and add to the wet ingredients. Mix into a smooth batter.

Distribute the batter over the damsons, then spread it with a knife so it covers all the fruit.

Put a piece of baking paper on a baking tray and place the springform on top, as some liquid will leak out of the tin.

Bake for 50 mins in the preheated oven.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin.

Once cool, cut around the edges of the cake and release the ring. Place a serving plate on top of the cake, turn the cake over and remove the bottom of the tin and the baking paper and serve.