I have penned my love for oranges and citrus fruits countless times before. I call them the sunshine fruit and I think it perfectly sums up this lovely fruit. Whether it is the sweet Valencia or navel oranges, cute little clementines or the slightly tart tangerines, I love them all.
When oranges and other citrus fruit are in season, a soft and spongy orange cake dripping with freshly made sweet and sticky orange syrup is our go-to dessert. I love how just a little bit of orange juice and a whole lot of zest perks up a simple vanilla cake batter and creates something even more irresistible.
This time I went a step further and made a delightful upside-down orange cake dripping with golden caramel sauce. Oh yes, I did!
Any kind of sweet oranges can be used to make this cake. I used slices of navel oranges to line the bottom of the pan and used the juice and zest of sweet clementines in the batter. The decision to leave the peel on or not is a personal one. If you do decide to leave the peel on, cook the orange slices in a simple syrup to tame the bitterness slightly. I decided to peel the fruit this time.
Whatever you do, don’t forget to line the bottom of the pan with a gooey caramel sauce first. When baked and flipped over, this caramel sauce is what gives the cake its characteristic sheen. Of course, it goes without saying that it makes the cake sinfully delicious too.
Upside-down cake may sound too complicated or difficult, but it is absolutely not the case. I have found that lining the bottom of the pan with parchment paper always gives you a smooth and beautiful cake. The caramel and fruit make a decadent topping to the sponge cake beneath, almost like a self-saucing pudding.
If you do not want to bake a large cake, feel free to divide the batter among individual ramekins. They make these cute mini upside-down cakes.
- Sugar - ¾ cup
- Water - 6 tbsp
- Vanilla extract - ½ tsp
- Orange juice - 2 tbsp
- Butter - 4 tbsp, softened
- Oranges - 2 large, peeled and sliced thinly
- All purpose flour - 2 cups
- Baking powder - 1½ tsp
- Baking soda - ½ tsp
- Salt - ½ tsp
- Butter - ½ cup, softened
- Sugar - 1 cup
- Eggs - 3, large
- Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
- Orange zest - 1 tbsp
- Orange juice - ¼ cup
- Buttermilk - ¾ cup
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 deg.F. Grease and flour a 9" round cake pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Make caramel sauce first. Take water and sugar in a saucepan. Cook on medium heat till sugar melts. Keep cooking on medium-low heat till it caramelizes and turns a golden-amber color. This can take anywhere between 8-12 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Add vanilla extract and orange juice. Whisk in butter till melted. Sauce will be thick now. Pour this caramel sauce into the prepared cake pan.
- Place the thinly sliced oranges on top in any pattern you wish. You may need 1-2 large oranges for this. Set aside while you prepare the batter next.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set side.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, around 2 minutes. Add eggs and beat till well combined.
- Add vanilla extract, zest, orange juice and buttermilk and mix well to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix till just combined. Do not over-mix.
- Pour this batter carefully over the caramel and orange slices in the pan. Smooth the top with a spatula and bake for 40 minutes or till the cake passes the toothpick test.
- Remove cake from oven and cool in pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges of the cake with a knife or thin spatula. Invert the cake onto a cake stand or serving platter. Cool slightly and serve cake warm or at room temperature.
- Store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge. Cake can be reheated lightly in the microwave before serving.
2. You can divide the caramel sauce, orange slices and batter among 6-oz ramekins to make mini cakes.You may need to reduce the baking time to 20-25 minutes.
Don’t forget to scoop up every large drop of warm caramel sauce left in the pan. And do not skimp on the oranges either. The caramel and oranges pair well so together to make the best topping ever to an already delicious cake.
This cake is an absolute show-stopper and makes for a beautiful dessert while entertaining.
Have you tried upside-down cakes? What is your favorite? Do try this orange upside-down cake and let me know how it goes.
Here are more orange cake recipes.
Orange sponge cake with orange glaze
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I am sharing this over at Fiesta Friday, FoodieFriDIY and Saucy Saturdays.
This cake is outstanding! Please note that butter, eggs, orange juice and buttermilk all need to be at room temperature. In my KitchenAid stand mixer the butter and sugar needs at least 5 minutes to get “light and fluffy”. I suggest these direction modifications: 1) add eggs one at a time, beating well between each one; 2) add buttermilk and orange juice slowly to avoid breaking the emulsion you just spent 5 minutes creating. My buttermilk and orange juice were cold and when I added them to the bowl the mixture immediately fell apart into a curdled looking mess. I set my bowl into a bowl of warm water and gently stirred to warm the mixture. Then I returned the mixer bowl to the stand and beat it again to re-emulsify. The caramel sauce is delicious! If you haven’t made a caramel sauce before, please do read other posts first for helpful tips (such as NOT stirring the sugar/water mixture.).
I’m glad it worked out for you!
I made this again 3 days later. Butter, eggs, orange juice and buttermilk were all well above room temperature. I checked them with an instant read thermometer. Even following my own suggested instruction modifications the batter appeared to curdle when I added the buttermilk (slowly) and orange juice. Batter temperature was plenty warm enough but I set the mixer bowl over a bowl of very warm water and stirred gently; could not reincorporate though the temperature was about 77 degrees F. I tried to re-beat the batter but consistency did not change. Knowing the temperature was not the problem, I just continued with addition of dry ingredients. It all blended just fine, and baked up just fine. While I don’t understand the breakdown, the cake turned out great and was just as delicious. My family loves this cake!
Hello Eileen, I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. As you can see, the addition of citrus juices does make the batter appear to be slightly curdled. However, this is to be expected and does not affect the final outcome. Following the recipe as listed above has always given me consistent results, and will do the same for you. I’m glad your family loves this cake, ours do so too!
How much would 1 cup be in grams?
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. Its the winter season now in Pakistan so when we got a gifted a big bag of oranges from the neighbours farm decided to do something different . Remembered from my childhood my mum used to make this cake so thought I would try my own hand at it. Your recipe works just great! Even though my caramel crystallised initially, (making for the first time) still managed to turn out a treat. I garnished the edge with toasted coconut and everyone loved it!
Hello Hafsa! Thank you for the lovely feedback. Getting fresh oranges from the garden sounds like a dream!! I’m glad the cake turned out to your liking 🙂
I love this cake because it’s beautiful and delicious and also because I’ve been craving citrus since December! Thanks for linking up at #SaucySaturdays.
Thank you, Christine 🙂
This is such a beautiful cake Anjana! I love the way you have made them with oranges which are in season now. I also love the idea of making personalised cakes in ramekins. How cute would that be!! Thanks for bringing this to FF!
Thank you, Suchi 🙂
I love baking with oranges!!
Such a beautifully sunny cake! Flip it over all the lovely bright oranges and delicious caramel appears 🙂
This is so, so pretty!
Thank you!!
This cake looks absolutely stunning, Anjana! I love it!
Thank you so much!!
So pretty!! Love the cake!!
Thank you 🙂
My mum used to make something similar… your post made me think that I would love to try again the amazing flavour of this kind of cake. So, thanks a lot for sharing and bring this beautiful cake at FF!
Thank you, Margherita. Happy FF!!
That looks absolutely gorgeous Anjana! Loved the mini version…so cute!!
I have never tried oranges in my cake.i think it is time to do so!!
Thank you, Sonal. Even a bit of zest or juice in the batter makes a difference. Do try it 🙂
The cake looks so divine! Your photos make me want to take the whole pan. 😀
Thank you, Jhuls!!
orange upside down cake…wow!
Thank you, Jyo!!
Absolutely gorgeous, Anjana. Simply gorgeous.
Thank you, Aruna!!
awesome….
Thank you, Kruti!!
what a stunning cake! Looks absolutely perfect.
Thank you!!