Strawberry Upside-down Cake with Cardamom
I thought upside down was one word. I was wrong.
You knew it wasn’t one word. You’re smarter than me.
Let’s learn a lesson… because I just learned it, and I want to share it with you.
Upside down is two words when you write something like “Oh crap… that pie just landed on the floor upside down!” Adverb nation. Wait… right?
Upside-down is hyphenated when it’s used as an adjective like, “Oh crap… Joy is totally obsessed with strawberries right now, and that Strawberry Upside-down Cake looks major.” Upside-down describes the cake… working overtime in adjective land.
… And this… this is why I’m not an English teacher.
Class dismissed.
I shoved this cake in my mouth on Sunday morning as I was rushing off to church.
I wasn’t late.
Ok… I wasn’t that late.
My point is that this cake is super easy to throw together on a Sunday morning.
And! It’s best eaten warm (when you’re in a hurry).
The cake batter is a simple brown sugar and sour cream cake. It’s sweet and moist, with a delicate but sturdy crumb. How’s that for food words?
Easy, uncomplicated, summer weekend dessert.
If you wanted to experiment with other berries for this recipe, I’d totally support you!
Strawberry Upside-down Cake with Cardamom
makes: one 8-inch cake
For the Topping:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup sliced strawberries
For the Cake:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
2/3 cup sour cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
I used an 8-inch round with 3-inch tall sides. You can also use a 9-inch round with 2-inch sides.
Place butter in the cake pan and place in the oven. When butter is melted, remove pan from the oven. Using two pot holders, tilt the pan around and around, coating the sides of the pan with butter. Once sides are coated, set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cardamom. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar on medium speed. Cream until slightly pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop mixer, scrape down the bowl with a spatula, and add egg and vanilla extract. Beat for 1 minute.
Turn the mixer off, scrape the bowl, and add the dry ingredients. Beat on low speed while adding the sour cream. Beat until the batter just comes together. Batter will be pretty thick. Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish incorporating ingredients with a spatula.
Sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar into the melted butter in the cake pan. Sprinkle strawberry slices over the butter and sugar in a single layer. Spoon batter over the strawberries and spread evenly with a spatula. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cake rest for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge of the cake and inverting the cake onto a cake plate. Serve warm with sweetened sour or whipped cream.
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This is an upside-down cake I would love (the pineapple kind, not so much…). Cardayum!
Wonderful cake, I made it last night and it was delicious, we had to taste it coming out of the oven because of the fabulous aroma from the strawberries, butter and cardamom. We were not disappointed.
Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I made two of these cakes for the fourth of july and they were incredible… the most moist cake ever….. a huge hit in the family (even for those who typically hate cake)
I just keep making this cake, it’s so easy and delicious ! Last time the strawberries were outrageously over priced, so I went for peaches, skipped the cardamom, and it worked out beautiful !
My daughter (almost 3) and I made your cake this afternoon. She ate the strawberries as fast as I could slice them but in the end we had a most wonderful cake. There is a larger endorsement on my blog. Thanks for the yumminess!
This was an excellent recipe. So often I make or bake something and I think, “It is good but I’d probably change this or that…” With this recipe I just sat back, ate it silently and enjoyed the perfect slice. Love it!
I gave my boyfriend the option of finishing dinner or making this. He hadn’t made a cake before (weirdo) and was super excited that it tasted sooo good. Thanks, Joy!!
I made this lastnight with peaches. Yummy! Fresh peaches. Mmmm. I had to fight the kids off and brought 1/2 of the cake to work today and by 9 a.m. it was gone already. :) So far I’ve made it with strawberries and now peaches. Will have to try other fruits – excellent cake. Thanks again Joy!
Do you think I could substitute greek yogurt for sour cream? I have been reading online you can, as long as the yogurt has enough fat content? (This question arises out of laziness, rather than trying to be more healthy – I just don’t want to make a trip to the store!)
i think that greek yogurt could totally work.
I tried this last night and it came out wonderfully! Everyone loved it :)
Instead of cardamom (none on hand) I used ginger….Amazing Flavor!
I have made this cake over and over again. So easy, delicious, and beautiful. Always turns out well, even when I sub in whole grain flours like barley and whole wheat pastry. I’ve done strawberry, blueberry and peach versions in the summer. And now that it’s winter, I have been desperate for some fresh fruit desserts. So I used apple, which was amazing! The butter browned a bit when I melted it in the oven. That combined with the brown sugar caramelizing the apples made the most delicious apple layer on top.
Thanks Joy!
Made this cake for the first time this morning after eyeing the recipe for several months. I tossed about 1/2 cup finely chopped frozen rhubarb in sugar and sprinkled that over the strawberries before baking. It was really delicious. I can’t wait to make this with other fruits! Great recipe!
Hay Joy I’m vegan and I love your blog! I just veganized this cake. I used earth balance instead of regular butter, 1/4 cup silken tofu to replace the egg and vegan tofu sour cream. I also added a little bit of vanilla powder in addition to the cardamon. The cake was delicious!!!!! This was my first Joy the Baker recipe and I can’t wait to make others!
So this is the first recipe I have made from this website. It came out wonderfully and everyone I fed it to including myself greatly enjoyed it. I actually used this recipe for a video project that is my final project for my basic single camera production class. The only question I have is, if the pictures of the cake are original and correct, how do I get my strawberries to be that bright? Mine ended up looking much darker and not so bright red. It still tasted delicious so I am not upset at all, but if I could make this and have the strawberries remain nice and bright instead of a dark pink color it would be amazing! I plan on making this again so any input would be appreciated.