Meyer Lemon Upside Down Cake

Prep Time: 30 mins | Cook Time: 1 hour | Course: Dessert | Yield: 8 

This amazingly moist lemony luscious cake will be the star of your lemon loving friends and family. Very thinly sliced buttery lemons bake on the bottom which in turn becomes a glorious design on the top. Dollop with cardamom lemon whipped cream. Adapted from Nicole Rucker and Epicurious.

Upside Down Layer:

½ cup butter, melted

½ cup sugar + 2 Tbsp, divided

2 Tbsp water

2 large meyer lemons, sliced very thin (remove seeds as needed to get thin slices)

Cake:

2 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 eggs

Zest of 1 lemon 

1 cup sugar

1 cup plain greek yogurt

1 cup olive oil

Prepare a 9 inch springform pan by wrapping the outside with 3 layers of Prepare a 9 inch springform pan by wrapping the outside of it with 3 layers of overlapping foil to hold any leaks.

On the inside of the pan add a round of parchment that is at least an inch larger than the pan (I use a 10” pan lid for cutting out the parchment round). Carefully insert the parchment round so that it rolls up the sides of the pan on the inside. This will hold the liquid inside while baking. Melt butter and add ½ cup of the sugar and the water together. Whisk until a bit shiny. Pour into the prepared pan and place in the freezer until solid (don’t skip this step) and ready to bake. Slice the lemons, you might need to use a very sharp knife or mandolin to get them sliced thin enough, the recommended size is ⅛ inch slices. Place lemon slices in a small bowl with the remaining 2 Tbsp of sugar. Gently stir a bit and let the flavors  marry while you make the batter.

Preheat oven to 350*. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium size mixing bowl. Stir in eggs, zest, sugar, yogurt and olive oil. Remove pan from freezer and layer slices overlapping beautifully over the frozen layer and going slightly up the sides (reserve leftover sugar and juices for the whipped cream). Pour the cake batter over the top of the lemons and bake for an hour. Invert the cake onto a serving plate and gently remove the parchment. Serve slices with cardamom lemon whipped cream dollops on top.

Cardamom Lemon Whipped Cream:

1 cup cream

1-2 Tbsp lemon sugar, left over from marinated lemon slices

½ tsp cardamom

Beat cream to soft peaks in the mixer, add the cardamom and a tablespoon or two (depending on your sweet to tart preference) of the lemon sugar and mix to incorporate. You can add a tablespoon of powdered sugar if you like it more sweet. Spoon a large dollop on a slice of cake.