"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk." ~ doug larson

i really feel like my baking skills have come a long way in the past few months. this is mostly because i realized that cooking and baking are two completely different crafts. cooking is easy because you can just throw a bunch of stuff together and taste it as you go. but baking takes discipline. you really have to pay attention to what you're doing and how you do it. and for those of you who know me, discipline is not my best quality. (FYI: i think my best quality is my hair.) i had to learn that in order to be a culinary master i had to take advice from others and follow directions.

i was reading 'real simple' the other day and came across the most beautiful looking cake i have ever seen. it was a plum upside-down cake. i figured that if i wanted to keep learning and challenging myself that i better try to make this cake. i've never made an upside-down cake before, but i thought that i could pull it off. since i can't quite stick to directions verbatim, i decided to swap out the plums for fresh strawberries. a good choice, if i do say so myself.

plum (or strawberry) upside- down cake

(courtesy of "real simple" august 2009)

serves: 8

total time: 2 hours

what you need:

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp unsalted butter

4 firm, ripe plums, each cut into 8 wedges

-or-

20-ish medium/large strawberries, quartered

1/4 cup plus 2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 large egg

2/3 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

directions:

1) preheat over to 350 degrees. butter and 8-inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper

2) melt 1 tbsp of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. add the fruit and 1/4 cup sugar and cook, tossing, until the sugar dissolves and the juices from the fruit become syrupy. (about 3 or 4 minutes) arrange the fruit in the baking pan and spoon excess liquid over the fruit.

3) in a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4) with an electric mixer, beat the remaining 1/2 cup of butter and 2/3 cup of sugar until fluffy. beat in the egg, sour cream, and vanilla. gradually add in the flour mixture, mix just until incorporated.

5) pour batter over the fruit and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. let cool in the pan for 1 hour. place a large plate over the cake pan and invert cake onto the plate.

strawberries have lots of juice, so it makes lots of syrup when you cook them in the skillet. you can save some of it in a dish and pour it over pancakes the next morning, or use all of it for your cake.

my batter was pretty thick and didn't really 'pour'. i had to spread it out in the pan over the strawberries.

this is the best cake i have ever made! i can't imagine having a boring, old, frosted cake after this masterpiece.