Plum Upside-down Cake on the Grill, yes, grill

click here to download a printable pdf of this recipe.

My mom always made Pineapple Upside-down cake for our family. I thought how fun to try and alter this a bit to use those wonderful plums that are in season right now. The best thing about this cake is you don't even have to turn on your oven! You could even sprinkle some blueberries in the pan, how perfect for the 4th of July. I hope you try it, and I'd love to see how you liked it, as well as if my photo chronicling was helpful (if anything, it was fun to document as I went along!)

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
7-8 ripe plums, halved and pitted

One box Duncan Hines Butter Cake (I think Duncan Hines is a good cake mix brand, it's what my mom always used)
One small can crushed pineapple in it's own juice
3 eggs

Tools needed:
Gas grill (I haven't tested this yes on a charcoal grill)
9-10 inch pan with (I used a spring-form pan, which made it really easy to 'unload' when done)
Mixer

Step one:
Preheat your grill to high on both sides. Firmly put some foil around the bottom of your pan (if using a spring-form pan, it's so the butter and mix don't ooze through, it also protect your pan from getting black from the grill). Place the stick of butter and the brown sugar in the pan, place on bottom rack of grill. Close up the cover until it's all melted and gooey. Stir and be sure it's evenly spread around pan. Caution, very very hot, mixture, use caution.

Step two:
In bowl, combine the cake mix, pineapple, and 3 eggs. Beat to combine. Should be nice and thick. (note, we're omitting the butte from the cake recipe, adding it in step one will still give that yummy buttery flavor. The pineapple does the job to moisten the cake) Set aside.

Remove the butter/sugar mixture from the grill, arrange the plums cut side up in the pan, get as many in as you can.



Pour cake batter over the plums.



Step three:
Place pan onto high rack of grill. Keep the left side of grill on high, right side on low. If you don't have a higher rack, then turn the right side to off.



Bake the cake for about an hour. Turn the cake about half way through baking time. If it seems to be baking too quickly, turn down the left side to medium. Better to cook it slowly. Check with a cake tester or toothpick, just like a regular cake.



Step four:
When cake if fully cooked, let it cool for about an hour. Then place your serving plate over the cake and flip. All that butter makes it flop right onto your plate. Now you get to eat it! yum! Serve it with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream, or even easier, the fun stuff out of the can, that's what we did!

Satay Burgers
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
¼ cup finely chopped unsalted dry-roasted peanuts
1½ tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1½ tablespoons fish sauce
1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon jalapeno
3 garlic cloves, minced
¾ pound ground pork
¾ pound ground turkey breast
Cooking spray

Prepare grill. Combine first 11 ingredients. Divide mixture into 6 equal portions, shaping each into a ½-inch-thick patty. Place patties on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 7 minutes on each side or until a thermometer registers 165°. Remove from grill; let stand 5 minutes. Serve with Poblano Sauce and whole wheat buns.

Makes 6 servings (serving size: 1 patty)

Poblano Cream Sauce
3 poblano chiles
½ (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
¼ cup cilantro

Place chiles on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Broil chiles 3 inches from heat 8 to 10 minutes on each side or until charred. Place chiles in a heavy-duty, zip-top plastic bag; seal and let stand 10 minutes to loosen skins. Peel and seed chiles, discarding skins.
Combine chiles, cream cheese and cilantro in food processor or blender; process until smooth.

click here to download a printable pdf of this recipe