But so did a bunch of other people... not just me. 3 second rule, right? My sister Betsy and I were trying to tandem-flip the cake onto a completely inappropriate platter and somehow the cake landed upside down on the floor. Actually it was an upside-down cake so all the yummy caramelly fruity part landed on the floor.


This would have been so sad, but for the fact that we totally ate it all anyway.

Here's what happened. We had so many people around and we had no dessert, but there was all of this fruit lying around, so I thought I would make 2 cakes. For all the people. As usual, I wanted to kind of make something easy and delicious. I remembered this upside-down gingery spice cake we used to make at Rose Pistola but I had absolutely no recollection of how that recipe went. So I looked in a Mark Bittman book to get some coffee cake proportions, then made up a recipe. Sometimes that turns out to be a really bad idea but in this case it was superawesome!

So the deal is that you make a caramel sauce, put it in a pan, put fruit in the pan, cake batter on top, and then when it's hot from the oven you have to flip it over right away or else the caramel part hardens and you can't flip it out. I made two- one in a square pan with mangoes, and one in a round pan with bananas. I flipped the banana one out OK, but the square pan made it really hard to flip. I solicited my big sister's help and before you knew it, there were sticky mangoes and cake on the floor and I was trying to pin the blame all on Betsy despite her loud protestations.

Then Olivia (who is 15) said, "I would totally eat that cake if it weren't for the fact that all of the dogs have been rubbing their butts on the floor." Because I forgot to mention there were also 4 or 5 dogs in the house that day. But I saw no butt-rubbing in that particular spot, GROSS. So I grabbed a piece and put it in my mouth and thought, ah who cares. Germs and dirt will make me stronger. Plus that is a &$!?%$ good cake! Yay for floor cake.

 
This is what the one I didn't drop on the floor looked like. So pretty and mesmerizing! Could have used more bananas though. It should be, like, covered with bananas. In my opinion.

Spicy Caramely Fruity Upside-Down Cake
Um, try not to drop it on the floor. 'Kay?

Ingredients:

• 3 bananas or 2 mangoes, cut in slices
• about 3/4 cup sugar (more if you want more caramel action)
• 1/2 cup (1 cube) butter
• 1 tsp vanilla or a splash of bourbon
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp powdered ginger
• 1 tsp allspice
• big pinch salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 375.
• Arrange cut fruit in the bottom of a pie plate.
• Combine 3/4 cup (or more) sugar with equal parts water in a pan. Put over high heat and wait until the sugar turns amber colored. When it does, turn off heat and add 3 Tablespoons of the butter and the vanilla (or bourbon) and swirl the pan to melt and combine. Immediately pour the mixture over the fruit.
• In a mixer, combine the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, spices, and salt (If you like more spice, feel free to double the spice amounts.)
  
• Cut up the remaining 5 tablespoons butter into small pieces and carefully mix into the dry ingredients, on low speed. Don't get the butter all incorporated or the cake will be chewy, not tender. Leave the butter in smallish pieces (around the size of peas.)
  
• Stop the mixer and put the egg and milk in. Mix just until incorporated, still being careful about keeping the butter in discernible pieces.
  
• Spread the dough over the fruit/caramel action. Cook for about 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
• When it comes out, flip it over within about 5 minutes or it will stick. It should come out super easily. Put a plate on top of the pan, grip it with potholders and flip it quickly.
• Don't ask your sister to help you or it might fall on the floor.