I have a little problem. I'm addicted to cookbooks, food writing, recipe collecting, and cooking. I have a lot of recipes waiting for me to try them, and ideas from articles, tv, and restaurants often lead to new dishes. I started losing track of what I've done. So now I'm taking photos and writing about what I've prepared—unless it's terrible in which case I forget it ever happened.
This is going to sound slightly irrational, but I changed my mind about fall. Right after explaining how I attempted to make fall happen by baking with apples and pears, it occurred to me that I hadn’t baked with plums yet this year. So, if we could just hit pause on fall for a moment while we enjoy this cake, then we can get back to letting the change of seasons happen as it may. And, this isn’t my fault. I blame all the other food blogs out there that are showing off gorgeous baked goods with plums. Everywhere I looked, I saw tarts and cakes brimming with late summer fruits, and I had to bake something with them too. I rushed out to grab some pretty, red plums and yellow nectarines so I could attempt my first ever upside-down cake. The recipe is from Deborah Madison’s Seasonal Fruit Desserts, and the upside-down part was not at all as scary as I thought it might be.
The process began by making a caramel in a cast-iron skillet with melted butter and light brown sugar. After cooking for just a few minutes, the heat was turned off, and the sliced nectarines and plums were layered into the caramel. The cake batter was started by mixing together butter, sugar, orange zest, vanilla and almond extracts, and eggs. Multiple flours were used here, and those included all-purpose flour, corn flour for flavor, and whole wheat pastry flour for sturdiness. The flours were combined with baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and that was added to the butter mixture in parts alternating with buttermilk. The batter was spread over the sliced fruit in the cast-iron skillet, and the cake was baked until golden. After removing the pan from the oven, you want to flip the cake out of it while it’s hot to prevent the fruit from sticking to the bottom. Running a knife around the edge helps loosen the cake from the sides, then cover the skillet with a platter, lift with a towel or oven mitts, and invert it. I was sure I was going to have a sticky mess all over my kitchen and myself for that matter after attempting that maneuver, but no, the cake plopped out without any issues.
The reds and yellows of the nectarines and plums fade a bit while baking and meld into the color of the cake, but upside-down on a platter, the sliced fruit shines in the caramel. The mix of flours did give the cake itself good character. I served whipped cream on the side which was a nice contrast with the warm, just-baked cake. I’m glad I grabbed those summer fruits before they were gone, and now I’ll let fall resume its schedule.
I had the pleasure of meeting Deborah Madison at a book signing held at Boggy Creek Farm a few weeks ago. The signing was for her new book Seasonal Fruit Desserts from Orchard, Farm, and Market which I’m looking forward to using from one season to the next. For the last year, I’ve been enjoying cooking from her book Local Flavors, and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is a classic of hers I reference often. Deborah was a student for eighteen years at the San Francisco Zen Center where she was head cook, guest cook, and private cook at different times. She also cooked at Chez Panisse before opening Greens restaurant which was a leader in offering farm-driven menus. Her many award-winning books inspire a way of eating that connects us to our food sources. Deborah is on the board of the Seed Savers Exchange, has been involved with Slow Food for over ten years, is the co-director of the Monte del Sol Edible Kitchen Garden in Sante Fe, New Mexico, and you can find her on Culinate. I asked Deborah, what are you reading?
"Oak" is a small but pretty, pithy book that in fact does frame civilization in terms of the habitat of the oak tree and the fact that it didn't adapt to a specialized niche.
To me both of these books are completely about food. Soil is essential, and it helps to understand it. "Oak" is about culture, but much of the oak culture is in fact about food, about gathering acorns, claiming trees and branches, harvesting, sharing, processing, cooking. But it's bigger than acorns. And food is bigger than recipes; it's about how we arrange our lives with others, and with nature, too.
Thank you for participating, Deborah! Check back to see who answers the question next time and what other books are recommended.
, and the upside-down part was not at all as scary as I thought it might be. 
, and 
is a classic of hers I 
, by William Bryant Logan, who wrote one of my favorite books, 
.