Orange Upside-Down Snacking Cake
Although, let's be honest: isn't ALL cake "snacking cake" these days?
The Green Spoon•Apr 3, 2025
This cake is inspired by the Chez Panisse upside-down cakes that Fanny grew up eating: light, buttery yellow cakes whose tops were studded with seasonal fruits—cherries, plums, apricots, cranberries, pineapple, orange, etc.—in a layer of caramel. The beauty of the fruit, laid out in patterns like stained glass windows, was the main attraction, but the cake itself was a close second.
This cake—shockingly, given the absence of caramel, gluten and refined sugar—is a fantastic dupe. Made with millet, cornmeal and almond flour and sweetened only with coconut sugar, it still feels decadent (thanks, butter!) and fruity without being cloying. While oranges are a great winter fruit to use for this cake, virtually any fruit in any season would work well for this: strawberries, blueberries, pears, whatever!
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We’re Fanny and Greta, dear friends with deep backgrounds in sustainable food. This is a space for the food lovers, home cooks, would-be home cooks and anyone who needs a bit of inspiration and gentle guidance in their family kitchen.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F
Grease and line your cake tin with a parchment round
Arrange the orange slices on the parchment-lined bottom of your pan.
In a large bowl, cream together butter (1 ½ sticks) and coconut sugar (1 cup) using an electric whisk or stand mixer (you can do this by hand, too, but you won't be able to get the butter-sugar mix as light and fluffy).
In another bowl, combine the millet flour (½ cup), almond flour (1 ½ cups), cornmeal (½ cup), salt (½ tsp) and baking powder (1 ½ tsp).
Add the eggs (4 large) one at a time to the butter-sugar mixture, whisking well between additions. Follow with the almond extract (¼ tsp), vanilla extract (½ tsp), and orange zest. Your batter may look broken or curdled after the addition of the eggs. This is TOTALLY FINE—DON'T FREAK OUT. It will sort itself out as you add the dry ingredients.
Slowly stir dry ingredients into wet, mixing well.
Add milk (⅔ cup) and combine.
Spread batter evenly over orange slices in cake tin. Smooth out and bake for about 40mins or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean. Allow to cool and serve with a big dollop of vanilla-scented whipped cream, eat it out of your lap while driving your kid to school, or standing in front of the fridge when you've been sent to get someone else a glass of water.
