Here at Grateful Plate, while we tend to shy away from dessert within our meal delivery and catering, we pride ourselves on living a healthy, balanced lifestyle. As such, we didn’t want to deprive you of one of our favorite summer cakes. Given the time of year, we are very excited that blueberries are a major part of this recipe.

Juicy blueberries give this spongy cake a rich and flavorful boost. The cake recipe is adapted from Alice Medrich’s book Flavor Flours, which explores the different tastes and textures of a variety of gluten-free flours and is a must-have in any gluten-free baker’s repertoire. We think the lime zest compliments the blueberries and the cornmeal nicely, but lemon zest would work beautifully as well. This cake is best the day it’s made, served with a dollop of whipped cream.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Upside Down Cake

Yields: one 9” cake, serving 6-8 people

Time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS:

For the topping:

• 2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 ½ cups (8.5 ounces/238 grams) blueberries
• 3 tablespoons (25 grams) coconut sugar

For the cake:

• ½ cups (110 grams) organic cane sugar, divided
• 3 egg yolks, room temperature
• ¼ cups (51 grams) safflower oil
• ½ cup (70 grams) fine cornmeal
• ¼ cup (40 grams) white rice flour (Bob’s Red Mill brand is recommended)
• 1 teaspoon (4 grams) baking powder
• ½ teaspoon (1 gram) sea salt
• The zest from 2 limes
• 4 egg whites, room temperature
• ¼ teaspoon (1 gram) cream of tartar

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottom of a 9” round cake pan with parchment paper.

Assemble topping: Pour melted butter in the bottom of the pan and scatter blueberries over. Sprinkle blueberries with coconut sugar.

Assemble cake: Set aside 2 tablespoons (22 grams) of organic cane sugar for later, to stiffen the egg whites.

Add the remaining sugar to a large mixing bowl with egg yolks, safflower oil, cornmeal, rice flour, baking powder, salt, lime zest and ¼ cup water. Whisk to blend thoroughly. Set aside for 15 minutes to hydrate the cornmeal while the oven is heating.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar and beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is creamy white and holds a soft shape. With the mixer running, slowly sprinkle in the reserved 2 tablespoons (22 grams) sugar, and beat at high speed until the egg whites are stiff but not dry.

Scrape half of the egg whites into the corn batter and fold until partially blended. Add the remaining egg whites and fold just until the batter looks thoroughly blended. Scrap the batter into the cake pan and spread it evenly across the surface of the pan.

Bake until the top of the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes.

Set the pan on a cooling rack. Immediately, while the cake is still hot, slide a thin knife or spatula around the sides, pressing against the pan to avoid tearing the cake. Leave the cake in the pan to cool—it will settle a bit and pull away from the edges of the pan.

When cool, carefully invert the cake onto a plate & give it a firm tap on the counter. Lift pan off and peel away parchment paper. Cut the cake into 8 even slices to serve.

Enjoy!

About Sara, our Sous Chef

Sara worked as a theatrical stage manager for the first 10 years of her career (locally at the Walnut Street Theatre, InterAct Theatre Company, and BRAT Productions) before attending the Natural Gourmet Institute & switching her focus to the culinary world. Since then she’s worked as the pastry chef of the Franklin Fountain, Little Nonna's and Aldine. Sara has also cooked at Vedge, Bing Bing Dim Sum, and Hungry Pigeon. Her fun fact: She can read 1,500 words per minute.