Paula's Peach Upside Down Cake

You might remember my excitement a few days ago when I received my Paula Deen's Best Desserts magazine in the mail. Well, I have tried out a few of the recipes and so far the overall consensus is excellent, especially this peach upside down cake I made for a barbecue yesterday. Peach desserts are quickly becoming my favorite type of dessert. See the Easy Peach Shortbread Tart and the Peach Crisp I made last year. Not only do I love the flavor, but you don't have to worry about finding perfectly ripe peaches. If they are still firm, it doesn't matter because when they cook they will soften and the great flavor will come out.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 firm ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (I actually left this out because I am not a huge fan of ginger, but absolutely use it if you like it.)
1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature (I always prefer to use unsalted butter for baking)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 and 3/4 cup cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt (omit if you use salted butter)
2/3 cup whole buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick spray.

Pour melted butter into prepared pan. Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar. Top with peaches and ginger, if using; set aside.

In a large bowl or the bowl of your standing mixer, beat 1/2 cup softened butter with sugar at medium speed with a mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; sift twice. Gradually add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating until just combined after each addition. (So add a third of the flour, then half the buttermilk, a third of the flour, the rest of the buttermilk and finish with the rest of the flour.) Pour over peaches in prepared pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (Mine took about 45 minutes, but it all depends on the oven.) Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges of cake to release sides. To flip seamslessly, place a serving plate upside down over the cake pan. Holding the two together, flip over and pull off the cake pan. It should come loose with no problem. Serve cake warm, I recommend a la mode.

Here's the cake right out of the oven.

Here's the finished product, upside down.