Tasty Summer Treat: Peach Upside Down Cake

I whipped up one of our favorite summertime desserts tonight & it's such a beauty (not to mention super-tasty), I just had to share! This one is courtesy of Real Simple, my all-time favorite magazine. I took the liberty of switching out the plums in favor of peaches (Matt's not a huge plum fan), & it is the perfect summer cake. Think peach pie topped (or bottomed, actually) with pound cake. Serve it a la mode & enjoy!

Peach Upside Down Cake

 
are...

you...

hungry

yet??

Well then let's get cooking baking! Here's what you'll need: 

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 T butter, plus extra for the pan, at room temp
• 4 firm, ripe peaches, cut into wedges
• 1/4 cup plus 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 t baking powder
• 1/4 t baking soda
• 1/4 t kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 2/3 c sour cream
• 1 t pure vanilla extract

Here's how you do it:

1. Preheat oven to 350degrees. Butter an 8 inch cake pan & line the bottom with parchment paper. Suznote: I don't have an 8" pan, so I use my 9" and it still works out beautifully. The cake's just a little 'thinner.'
2. Melt 1 T of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the peaches and 1/4 cup of the sugar and cook, tossing, until the sugar dissolves and the juices from the peaches become syrupy, 3 to 5 minutes. Arrange the peaches in the cake pan in slightly overlapping concentric circles, starting from the outside. Spoon any pan juices over the top.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt.
4. With an electric mixer, beat the remaining 1/2 cup of butter and 2/3 cup of sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, sour cream & vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated.
5. Pour the batter over the peaches & bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 50-55 minutes (or 40 minutes in the case of our whack oven). Let cool in the pan for 1 hour. Place a large plate over the cake pan and invert the cake onto the plate. Remove the parchment paper. Suznote: I've found that the batter really isn't 'pourable' & I am a perfectionist obsessive & I'm afraid of messing up my perfect concentric circles, so I just blob it on (that's a technical term) & then carefully spread.
6. Serve a la mode with vanilla ice cream!!!! Yummmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's what it looks like as it comes together:

(Can you tell I'm proud of my concentric circles...I took about 100 photos of this stage and neglected pretty much every other step of the process!)

What are your favorite summer desserts?