Black Raspberry Almond Upside-down Cake

This tender almond cake is studded with black raspberries and topped with sugared almonds and berries.

Black raspberries are my favorite summertime berry. They are smaller than black berries and not quite as tart. I've never seen them in the stores around me but they grow wild next to a few of my mom's fields. If you can't find black raspberries, black berries work equally well. This recipe is adapted from a recipe by Bake from Scratch.

Cake

• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened

• 1 cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar

• 3 eggs

• ½ tsp almond extract

• 1½ cups cake flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• ¼ tsp salt

• ⅔ cup buttermilk

• ⅔ cup toasted sliced almonds

• 2 tbsp melted butter

• ½ cup brown sugar

• 4 - 5 cups fresh black raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9" round cake pan. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar until fluffy.

3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in almond extract.

4. In a medium bowl mix together cake flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt.

5. Alternately fold flour mixture and buttermilk into the butter-sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

6. Pour 2 tbsp melted butter into prepared pan. Sprinkle 1/2 cup brown sugar over the butter. Mix together so it evenly overs bottom of the pan.

7. Arrange black raspberries in a single layer to completely cover the bottom of the pan prepared with the butter-sugar mixture.

8. Pour cake batter over the top of the berries. Smoothing the top with a spatula.

9. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

10. Cool for 10-15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake. Turn onto serving plate to finish cooling. While the cake cools make the topping.

Topping

• ¼ cup melted butter

• ½ cup brown sugar

• ⅔ cups toasted sliced almonds

• Remaining black raspberries

1. Mix melted butter, brown sugar, and sliced almonds together in a medium bowl.

2. Gently fold in remaining black raspberries.

3. Top cake with topping mixture.

4. Serve and enjoy!

I have whipped up this cake for multiple summer surprise birthday parties. We get wild black raspberries from the waterways around some of our fields. The berries are so yummy it's hard not to eat them right out of the bucket while you're picking. I like them over vanilla ice cream or baked in a pie, but this recipe takes the cake (pun intended).

I wanted to make this cake for a friend's birthday a few weeks after the end of black raspberry season. Since it's an upside-down cake I was able to freeze the berries along the bottom of a cake pan and wrap them in plastic wrap for the exact amount of berries I needed. It worked beautifully! I purchased blackberries for the topping and it was just as good as using fresh berries. I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I do. Happy baking!