Don’t let the simplicity of this kumquat upside down cake fool you. The candied kumquats nestled into the cake creates incredibly moist and delicious dessert.
Find more olive oil cake recipes here.
I adore fruits. Maybe it’s my Persian heritage, but fruits are a HUGE part of our diet. It’s no wonder that a fruit bowl is always present in the Persian household. They are nutritious and so incredibly full wonderous flavors and textures.
So it’s not a surprise that I love featuring my favorite fruits in my desserts. Don’t get me wrong, I love chocolate, but pass me a fruit pie or fruit cake any day of the week. And my current fruit obsession? The kumquat!
Since I love upside down cakes, especially my orange upside down cake, it was only natural for me to make a kumquat upside down cake. Especially since my kumquat tree is filled with fruit, ready to be picked and enjoyed!
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Recipe highlights
- So Simple: Compared to traditional two-layer cakes, upside down cakes are incredibly easy to whip up. All you need is a cast iron pan to create this wonderful recipe.
- Soft Texture: The yogurt makes the vanilla cake base oh so tender and incredibly moist. It is a delightful cake that tastes amazing with whatever fresh fruit you use.
- Orange Flavor: When inverted this fluffy vanilla cake is lightly sweetened and is the perfect base for the sweet syrupy kumquats baked with it.
- Rustic elegance: Upside down cakes always gives me farmhouse vibes. It’s a beautiful cake you can serve to friends over tea and coffee, or enjoy a slice while read a good book.
Ingredients needed
- Butter: Although this is an olive oil cake, I due use butter to caramelize the kumquats on the bottom of the pan.
- Sugars: I prefer to use brown sugar when caramelizing fruit in an upside down cake. Regular granulated sugar is used to bake the cake.
- Kumquats: This is the star of the show, so chose kumquats that are ripe and ready. This means a sweet skin and tart fruit.
- Extra virgin olive oil: If you’ve read my blog before, then you learned your lesson on how to bake with olive oil. Your baked goods are only as good as the ingredients you put into it. Choose a mild tasting olive oil for this cake recipe, not a peppery one.
- Eggs: When I bake, I primarily use large eggs.
- Plain yogurt: I like to use Greek or Persian yogurt when I bake. You can also use homemade yogurt. I’ve got a fabulous post and video to teach you how to make yogurt here.
- Pantry staples: All purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
Step by step directions
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- Melt butter. Using a 9-inch cast iron skillet, heat over medium-high heat and melt butter. When butter is bubbling and just starts to brown, stir in brown sugar. Cook until sugar has dissolved into the butter and starts to melt, then remove from heat.
- Prep kumquats. Cut 20 kumquats in half, cutting the larger kumquats in thirds. Discard seeds. Arrange kumquat slices over the brown sugar into desired pattern and set aside.
- Combine dry ingredients. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- “Cream” the sugar. In a large bowl, mix together sugar and olive oil until combined and sugar is dissolved. Mix in yogurt, water and eggs until fluffy and combined.
- Add more kumquats. Remove the seeds from the remaining 6 kumquats and finely chop. Mix the kumquat pieces into the cake batter.
- Finish the batter. In batches, mix flour mixture into yogurt mixture and stir until combined. Gently pour cake batter evenly over the kumquat slices in your cast iron pan.
- Bake the cake. Place cake in the oven and cook for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Invert cake. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Run a knife blade along the sides of the cake to insure a clean removal. Place serving plate over the cast iron skillet and carefully invert the cake. Keep the skillet on the plate until the cake falls into the plate.
- Cool cake. Remove skillet and allow cake to cool to room temperature, about 30 more minutes before serving.
Expert tips and recipe FAQs
Enjoy more of my kumquat recipes:
- Cardamom Kumquat Bars
- Kumquat Marmalade with Orange Blossom Water
- Kumquat Margarita
And try my other upside down cakes:
- Cranberry Upside Down Cake
- Upside Down Strawberry Rhubarb Cake
- Upside Down Grape Cake with Balsamic Vinegar
- Campfire Dutch Oven Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: You can store any leftover cake on the counter, covered with foil or plastic wrap, as long as the room is cool and not hot. Because of the wet fruit topping, though, I prefer to cover and refrigerate leftovers. It will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
TO FREEZE: You can also freeze leftover cake. Wrap slices in foil and freeze for up to 4 months.
Kumquats seem to confuse people. They look like oranges, but are the size of a large olive. Kumquats stand out in the citrus family because the entire fruit, skin and all, is edible. The kumquat skin is deliciously sweet while the fruit and juice inside is tart. It makes an incredible combination in your mouth! Kumquats do have seeds and they are edible, but, I personally, do not eat the large seeds. When cooking or baking with kumquats, I usually remove the seeds first.
Kumquat Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar packed
- 26 kumquats
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup thick plain Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup water
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Using a 9-inch cast iron skillet, heat over medium-high heat and melt butter.
- When butter is bubbling and just starts to brown, stir in brown sugar.
- Cook until sugar has dissolved into the butter and starts to melt, then remove from heat. Spread sugar mixture evenly across the bottom of the pan.
- Cut 20 kumquats in half, cutting the larger kumquats in thirds. Discard seeds.
- Arrange kumquat slices over the brown sugar into desired pattern and set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl, mix together sugar and olive oil until combined and sugar is dissolved.
- Mix in yogurt, water and eggs until fluffy and combined.
- Remove the seeds from the remaining 6 kumquats and finely chop. Mix the kumquat pieces into the cake batter.
- In batches, mix flour mixture into yogurt mixture and stir until combined
- Gently pour cake batter evenly over the kumquat slices in your cast iron pan.
- Place cake in the oven and cook for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan.
- Run a knife blade along the sides of the cake to insure a clean removal.
- Place serving plate over the cast iron skillet and carefully invert the cake. Keep the skillet on the plate until the cake falls into the plate.
- Remove skillet and allow cake to cool to room temperature, about 30 more minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
I have a serious love affair with kumquats. I was so excited to see you used them to make a cake!!
Yup, number me among those that (almost) never use kumquats. It’s not that they confuse me — although now that you mention it, they do, at least a little. It’s just that I never think to use them. Gotta try this cake — so creative. Thanks!
Lovely cake. Never eaten kumquats but would like to. I have never seen them for sale here either. Hope to one day.
Where do you use the water listed in the recipe?
The water goes in the cake batter. Thank you for catching that. I fixed the directions.
I find kumquats at my middle eastern market and farmer’s markets. I think a lot of people don’t realize that the whole fruit is edible and that the skin is delicious and sweet.