Apricot-Cherry Upside Down Cake (gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free)
Ali Segersten
Summer's bounty is here and needs to be preserved or used right away! What do you do to preserve the summer harvest of fruits and vegetables? For fruit, we freeze it, dehydrate it into fruit roll-ups or small pieces, make jam, make fun cakes or crisps, and just enjoy it fresh.
This cake recipe evolved after creating a grain-free apple cobbler (with those yummy early season baking apples). I thought if my ingredient combinations worked as a topping for cobbler, they might work (with a few tweaks) as a base for an upside down cake! I'll share the cobbler recipe later in the season when more varieties of apples are available.
If you are looking for more healthy gluten-free dessert recipes like this one, then check out my new book, Nourishing Meals. I think the dessert chapter has about 50 new recipes ranging from Sweet Potato Custard and Dark Chocolate Coconut Custard to Frozen Banana Coconut Cream Pie and Lime Avocado Tart with a Macadamia Nut Crust to Cashew Ginger Cookies, Carrot Orange Spice Cupcakes, and Gingerbread! All of these recipes I just listed are also free of grain flours and sweetened with a minimal amount of natural sweeteners. Additionally, some of them are vegan and egg-free!
Apricot-Cherry Upside Down Cake
This cake can be made with just about any fruit. Try sliced peaches, blueberries, cranberries with orange zest, or Italian Plums. If you make it with fruit that contains less liquid, like apples or bananas, then you will only need 1 tablespoon of arrowroot powder in the fruit part instead of two. You can use either butter or coconut oil in this recipe. I used pastured butter in my test recipes. Pastured means that the cows were grazing on grasses instead of eating grains (which is, of course, what they are designed to be doing). This also makes their butterfat a good source of nutrients, like vitamins K2 and A (though K values can vary widely). Butter from grain-fed cows doesn't have vitamin K2 because they are not consuming any K1 from green leafy, grassy foods.
Fruit
Dry Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place a 9-inch cake pan onto a sheet of parchment paper and draw a line around the bottom with a pencil. Cut out the circle and place it onto the bottom of the cake pan.
- Grease the sides of the pan with butter or coconut oil.
- In a small bowl mix together the butter or coconut oil, maple syrup, and arrowroot powder. Spread it onto the parchment paper in the cake pan (I use an offset spatula to do this).
- Arrange your fruit, cut side down, in a single layer on top of the butter-syrup mixture.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.
- Pour the wet into the dry and quickly whisk together until combined.
- Pour batter over fruit and spread evenly with the back of a spoon or spatula.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
- Let pan cool on a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes then carefully flip out onto a plate; peel off parchment paper.
- Let cool and then serve. Enjoy!
Use this recipe in our Meal Planner
About the Author
Alissa Segersten, MS, CN
Alissa Segersten, MS, CN, is the founder of Nourishing Meals®, an online meal-planning membership with over 2000 nourishing recipes and tools to support dietary change and better health. As a functional nutritionist, professional recipe developer, and author of The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook, Nourishing Meals, and co-author of The Elimination Diet, she helps people overcome health challenges through food. A mother of five, Alissa understands the importance of creating nutrient-dense meals for the whole family. Rooted in science and deep nourishment, her work makes healthy eating accessible, empowering thousands to transform their well-being through food.Nourishing Meals Newsletter
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