Orange Almond Caramel Upside-down Cake

What is passion? Do you know?
To me passion is something that you do even when you are tired, sleepy or busy.
If you ask me to bake or cook something in the middle of the night, I will do it. Without whining for sure. I probably won't say the same to do something else like say for example - exercising???

I have been very busy at work for a couple of weeks and have been busy at home too. Even then, I couldn't resist making this cake. Does this qualify as a passion? You tell me. What is your passion?

This month's choice of cake for 'The Cake Slice' baking group was this 'Orange Almond Caramel Upside-down Cake'  from the book 'Cake Keeper Cakes' by Lauren Chattman. This cake uses about 2 TBSP short of 1 cup butter. I tried to experiment by reducing the butter in the actual cake. Didn't alter the caramel recipe since caramel without butter is not something I want anyone to eat. 

One Year Back - Challah (Jewish Bread)
Ingredients:

For the topping:

1 cup sliced almonds
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar 

For the Cake:

1½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup sour cream
2 large eggs
¼ cup orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (I used 4 TBSP butter + 4 TBSP country crock buttery spread)
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp grated orange zest

Method:

Topping:

Heat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9 inch round non stick cake pan and line the base with parchment paper. Dust with flour. I do not have any non stick pans. So, I used a 9" springform pan and lined it with parchment paper. It is very easy to line a springform pan. All you have to do is cut a square parchment paper and put it on the plate and fix the ring around it. No need to cut the paper into a circle to fit in or anything.
Spread the nuts on a baking tray and toast until golden, 8 to 10 minutes (Watch out. Mine started getting really dark at 8 minutes itself). Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until foaming. Whisk in the brown sugar, turn the heat to low, and cook, whisking constantly, for 2 minutes. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula. There was 1/4 cup of honey drizzled on the top of the caramel. I omitted it totally so that it doesn't become too sweet. Come to think of it - for 1 1/2 cups of flour, there is a total of 3/4 cup + 2/3 cup sugar. To top it off with 1/4 cup of honey would be sickeningly sweet to my family's taste. Scatter the toasted nuts on the top of the caramel.

Cake:

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Combine the sour cream, eggs, orange juice and vanilla in a glass measuring cup and beat lightly.
Combine the butter (in my case butter, buttery spread) and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Stir in the orange zest.
With the mixer on medium-low speed, pour the egg mixture into the bowl in a slow stream, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides.
Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture, ½ cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Then mix of 30 seconds on medium speed.
Pour the batter over the almonds, gently spreading it into an even layer.
Bake until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let stand for 5 minutes.
Holding the pan and a plate together firmly with oven mitts, invert the hot cake onto the plate. Peel away the parchment paper. If necessary, replace any almonds stuck to the base of the pan. Let the cake cool for 20 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.
Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.

You can check out the other members' posts at the Cake Slice Blogroll.
Happy Friday everyone.
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