Chocolate Almond Upside Down Cake – For Valentines Day :)

Being Valentines Day, I see a lot of heart shaped items on all blogs.. Here  comes my entry with a heart shaped upside down cake. I tried to create a heart shape in the center of the cake as well, which was a flop. Then went with some m&m drops to decorate it. The caramel and the almond topping is really great and I realized that it was a bad idea to leave that empty space to create a heart shape.

Ingredients:
For the Caramel topping:

Butter, melted     --   4 tbsp
Brown sugar       --   ¾ cup
Honey                    --   ¼ cup
Almonds thinly sliced, lightly toasted --   1 cup

For making cake:

All purpose flour --   1 ¼ cups
Cocoa powder     --   ½ cup
Baking soda          --   1 tsp
Salt                           --   ½ tsp
Butter                      --   ½ cup or 1 stick, at room temperature
Sugar                      --   1 ½ cups
Eggs                        --   3 large
Buttermilk            --   1 cup
Vanilla extract   --   1 tsp

Preparation of the cake:

Prepare the topping.Generously butter a 10-inch cake pan. I used a heart pan, this being valentines day special.

Pour 6 tablespoons melted butter into the cake pan and swirl to coat the bottom. Sprinkle in brown sugar. Drizzle honey over sugar and sprinkle evenly with almonds.

I tried to leave a heart shape in the middle, but the shape did not come out well :(

     

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together three times to make the cake extra light. Using an electric mixer beat the butter until smooth and fluffy. Add sugar and continue mixing. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Continue beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

With the mixer running on low speed, add a third of the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Add half the buttermilk and continue mixing. I used low fat yogurt instead of butter milk. Add another third of the dry ingredients, mix, and add remaining buttermilk and vanilla. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

        

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes. Insert a tooth pick or knife in the center and it should come out clean. It took 50 minutes in my oven.

Run a knife around the edge of the pan and immediately invert the pan onto a serving platter. Let it sit with the pan still on top for 5 minutes so the caramel can soak into the cake a bit, before removing the pan. If the topping is sticking to the pan, warm the pan surface over a low burner to loosen the caramel and then pour it over the cake. If there are almonds sticking on to the pan, use a spoon to remove them and stick it on the cake.

Let cool completely. Cut and serve. The delicious cake is ready.

Recipe Courtesy: Martha Stewart