Upside-down cakes are a vintage dessert that have recently enjoyed a millennial resurgence. And why not? Upside down cakes are gorgeous to look at and delicious to eat! While the recipes have many ingredients, these cakes are totally easy to bake in your own home.
There are also many ways to breathe new life into this retro treat. Betty Crocker offers this ingenious recipe for a pecan pie upside-down cake that is simple to prepare and impressive enough to wow even the pickiest party-goer. (Kids, anyone?)
The key shortcut to this recipe is a pancake mix, such as Bisquick, which is used to help create the cake batter. Sugar, milk, vegetable oil, egg and a touch of vanilla complete the mix, and then the batter is poured on top of melted butter, brown sugar and pecans.
After the cake is baked, you let it cool for about 5 minutes before inverting the pan and revealing the beautiful pecan mixture which is now the top of your cake. Then the cake is drizzled with a rich, creamy glaze made of milk and powdered sugar.
Looking for other yummy upside-down cake ideas for your kitchen? Try this twist on the classic Southern hummingbird cake. Hummingbird cakes, also called “doctorbird cakes,” hail from Jamaica but have a rich history in the South. This sweet dessert is traditionally made with pecans, bananas, and pineapple.
Try an upside down version of this traditional cake with this recipe for a hummingbird upside-down poke bundt cake. Made with Betty Crocker yellow cake mix, ripe bananas, canned pineapple, butter and brown sugar, this bundt cake is baked and then inverted so its pineapple bottom becomes the pretty focal point.
The cake is poked with several holes, and then a rich, sweet filling (made with sweetened condensed milk and pineapple juice) is poured over the cake. A simple, nutty glaze consisting of powdered sugar, pecans and pineapple juice completes the recipe.
What a perfect dessert for summertime! The fresh flavors of the fruit marry perfectly with the sultry summer weather, and it’s a fun way to update a retro recipe.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories.
