Blueberry Peach Upside-down Cakes

August 5, 2010

Last fall, before we even moved back to the U.S., I was already excited about blueberry picking. I hadn’t been in almost 3 years and I was determined that I would load the kitchen with an abundance of blueberries picked at a nearby orchard.

As the summer went on, I began to lose hope that I’d make it to the orchard. It is about 1 ½ hours away and there never seemed to be a convenient weekend. When there was, it was typically on Sunday when the place was closed.

A couple weeks ago, my nephew came to visit for a few days and I had just found out about another orchard that was a little closer to where we are living, Reed Valley Orchard. It appeared that blueberries were long gone, but they had an overabundance of Freestone peaches. With a day free and lots of time to spend together, we set off to check this place out.

After, about an hour, and 4 miles creeping along a one lane road, part gravel, we finally found it. I immediately knew it was worth the trip. In addition to the rustic, little building full of fruit preserves and crafts, it was fruit-tree city. It turns out that Reed Valley has just about everything in its respective season – cherries, blackberries, raspberries, pears, nectarines, peaches, plums, pumpkins and apples.

I was excited enough about the peaches, but when I rounded the corner and saw a girl sorting through blueberries (yes, blueberries!) I was ecstatic! It turns out they had about one row still bearing. My lucky day!

We started with the peaches and the amount on the trees was incredible. You could have just walked around holding out your hand and one was bound to fall into it. We filled up our baskets with no problem. That is, after I spend about 15 minutes taking pictures.

Next were the blueberries. We had quite the bucket to fill up and I think my nephew and I both got a good idea of just how small blueberries are when you are trying to fill a whole bucket. It took a very long time, but I wasn’t leaving without more than I knew what to do with.

I picked up some of these too which I’d never had before – Donut Peaches. I guess they also go by the name Saturn Peaches. The orchard only has a few of these trees so they were picked that morning and available in the store. They had that distinctive peach flavor, but a firmer flesh.

This was the total damage, along with a box of peaches considered seconds for making jam.

The donut peaches we ate fresh, and I showed you the jam I made with seconds this past week. I almost made it through the entire bucket of blueberries before I separated some out for freezing. Most of the other peaches we’ve eaten fresh as well, but I had a strong urge to bake something. I rarely ignore these types of urges and this time cake was calling my name.

I found a pineapple upside-cake recipe in my trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook Bridal Edition. I reduced and changed the type of sugar, reduced the butter and changed the flour.

Then I decided I wanted mini-cakes. You know, because mini anything is just too darn cute to pass up. I used the large, six-muffin pan my mom got for me recently. The kind that is ideal for mini-meatloaves. A little big for a muffin, but not bad for dinner or dessert.

Voila – Blueberry Peach Upside-down Cakes. I’m really happy with how these turned out. Next time I may add a few more blueberries, but the cake was nice and tender, and the dessert as a whole wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet. I think the raw sugars and whole wheat flour really work to balance this. Now, I’m thinking about which fruit is next. Maybe plums…

Blueberry Peach Upside-down Cakes
Cake modified from Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Betty Crocker Cookbook

1 peach
½ cup blueberries, 30-40
½ cup mascavo sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter
½ cup demerara sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
¾ cup milk
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 1/3 cup white whole wheat flour
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Slice the peach into 12 slices, you’ll need 2 for each cake. In a saucepan, combine the mascavo sugar and a ¼ cup of the butter. Cook over medium heat until the butter is melted and the sugar dissolved.
Pour the sugar syrup evenly into each of the 6 slots. Sprinkle 5 to 6 blueberries in each and top with two slices of peach in a single layer.
In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and the butter until combined, then add the egg. Mix in the milk. Next add the baking powder, salt, and flour. Mix just until combined. Divide the batter evenly and pour over the fruit.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cake is firm in the center. You can use the toothpick test. Remove from the oven and place a cookie sheet, top down, over the muffin tin. Flip the muffin tin and the cookie sheet. Allow the muffin tin to rest there for about 5 minutes so the syrup will run down over the cake.

Gently remove the muffin tin from the cakes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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  • Erica August 5, 2010 at 6:33 am

    oh my drool. There is nothing like fresh picked fruit. Especially donut peaches…and even better in baked goods 😉 Thanks for the anniversary wishes 🙂 🙂

  • Fiona August 5, 2010 at 6:42 am

    I love Reed Valley Orchard. I already have piles of blueberries from there and am dragging hubby back on Saturday for peaches, plums and anything else they have.

  • kat August 5, 2010 at 7:26 am

    Oh, peach & blueberry is such a great combination of flavors & those cakes look sooooo good

  • Amanda (Two Boos Who Eat) August 5, 2010 at 10:56 am

    That orchard looks like such a blast. I love picking fruit myself.

    We used to have a peach tree in the backyard. I never made an upside down cake like this with them though. I have some peaches in the fridge from our CSA. I need to try something like this! The mini cakes are beautiful.

  • Andrea (Off Her Cork) August 5, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    OH YUM! Those little cakes look amazing! I love desserts that are already portion sized. 😀 Makes life so much easier. Blueberry and peach is such a great combo, I bet it would be amazing with some blackberries as well!

  • emily (a nutritionist eats) August 5, 2010 at 1:57 pm

    Such cute cakes!! (I’m with you on the mini anything!!)

  • MelindaRD August 5, 2010 at 7:05 pm

    That sounds like an awesome place. I am impressed you have made jam. I need to try this soon. This is a nice upside down cake too and a good way to use up the abundance of fresh fruits you have.

  • Reeni August 6, 2010 at 5:50 pm

    These are the cutest things! I am craving peaches in a huge way. These are lovely.

  • Debinhawaii August 7, 2010 at 3:09 pm

    Gorgeous mini-cakes. As much as I love tropical fruit I miss the stone fruit and berries from the mainland and there is nothing like fresh-picked. 😉

  • Tangled Noodle August 7, 2010 at 8:56 pm

    Cool! I’ve never gone blueberry picking before, but will now have to bide my time until next year. These upside-down cakes look scrumptious and so very tempting! It’s like you’re eating baked fruit that incidentally had some cake batter around it. 😎

  • Lori August 8, 2010 at 3:46 pm

    Erica – I really like the donut peaches. Wish I had more!

    Fiona – It’s such a great place. Hope you had fun picking!

    kat – I love the combo. Been having a lot in my oatmeal.

    Amanda – Love peaches and self-pick.

    emily – Thanks! There is just something about mini.

    Andrea – Great idea. Maybe I should try that next.

    Melinda – My next quest with jam is to make it with less sugar! 🙂

    Reeni – I know! We are out of peaches now and I wish I had more.

    Deb – Thanks! It is such a toss up. Tropical vs stone/berries. I missed them terribly in Brazil, but now I miss good bananas and pineapple, not to mention guava and passion fruit!

    TN – Love your description. Definitely try blueberry picking. It does take a while though. Those are some small berries!

  • Anna August 22, 2010 at 7:54 am

    Oh Lori, that’s a beautiful place, it’s so exiting to pick your own fruit. And the mini cakes look soooooooo cute and yummy.

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