TWD: BWJ Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake

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Tuesdays with Dorie recipe for this week is Nectarine Upside-down Chiffon Cake. I looked over the recipe a week ago, read some of the other baker’s comments here, and then promptly became disinterested.  I can’t tell you for sure why I wasn’t excited about this recipe but maybe it is because the recipe alone takes up 2 ½ pages of details. Or because there are 3 distinct parts to making this 1 cake. Or maybe I was just feeling lazy.

THE TOPPING.                      THE STREUSEL.                   THE CAKE.
In my mind, I claim to be a patient person, but I just didn’t want take the time.  Oh yes, and then the fact that I really don’t like nectarines all that much.  That must be it 🙂

It’s Saturday. Tuesday looms. We are having soup for supper. That’s it, just soup.  Okay, I thought, make the cake.  The recipe calls for a 10” springform pan. I have a 10 ½” pan.  Oh great, this thing is going to be HUGE. 🙁

THE TOPPING. I have beautiful fresh apples (thank you Leon and Liz) so I decided to use 2 nectarines and 2 apples.  My springform pan is known to “leak” and so I layered a piece of parchment paper on the bottom, adding the pan ring and then trimming the edges.  That should keep the butter and such inside the pan. Wrong. Even that didn’t completely seal the pan, so I added a drip pan and some foil.  Smart, huh?

I tossed the apples in some lemon juice and water so they wouldn’t go brown while I was putting the cake together.  I am glad I did this step.  Once I had the apples and nectarines layered in the butter and brown sugar mixture I was a little bit interested.  It was about this time that my sous-chef dish-washing mom came quickly into the kitchen saying, “you just have to come see this!”  “What is wrong?” I cried!  “Oh come quickly!” she said.  What did I need to see?  Nebraska is playing football today and she just knew I would want to “see” that sea of red!  🙂 Go Big Red!

THE STREUSEL  Whole almonds are roasted and added to flour, sugar cinnamon, ginger, oats, and butter to make up the streusel layer.  I did not use whole almonds.  I knew I would have a terrible time getting them chopped up later, so I used sliced almonds and I am glad I did.  Once the streusel is blended in a food processor it is baked to a nice golden brown.

While the streusel is cooling THE CAKE is made. We are at the third step — and there are TWO parts to this step.  Truthfully, it has taken me almost an hour to get to this stage. The oven is on, it is hot inside and out, and I continue to grouse.  However, I do get the chance to use my new juicer that I just love! Fresh lemon juice goes into the chiffon batter. Yum.

Okay, here is where things get interesting.  Have you seen the video where a young women shows us how to quick and easily separate the egg yolk from the egg white? Oh and since I don’t speak Chinese I can’t understand a word she is saying.  If you haven’t seen it, I will include the video at the bottom of this post —

The plan is to crack a whole egg in a bowl.  Then using a clean plastic bottle, squeeze the bottle to get some air out and then touching the bottle to the yolk release the bottle and the yoke sucks right up into the bottle.  Wow!  I could not wait to do this. I even planned to make a video for YOU, so you could see me do it.  It is so clever.
My best guess is that while she is speaking Chinese during the video she is imparting some really, really important wisdom.  Since I have no idea what that wisdom is, after several frightful attempts I decided use MY egg separater. No video needed.

Moral of that story:  We are having a LOT of scrambled eggs for breakfast tomorrow. 

Moving on, the cake batter is mixed without much grousing on my part. Then the egg whites are whipped. (This is where the separated eggs are necessary :))  The egg whites are what makes a chiffon cake — a chiffon cake.  The recipe says “if you run a finger through the whites, it should leave a smooth, even path.”  I did. It did.  Whites done.

The whipped egg whites are gently folded into the batter.  Half of the batter is poured over the patiently waiting fruit and sugar.
The streusel is added and the final layer of batter is poured over everything and into the oven!

Whew! This place is really a mess.  As you know, I have a sous-chef dish-washing mom who cleans up all my messes (aren’t I lucky?)  Well, since it is Saturday AND Nebraska is playing football AND they are on TV, I decided to surprise my dear ol’ mom and clean up my own mess. 🙂 I am nice like that.  I was about halfway through that clean-up process and I heard her coming down the hall.  Oh, no! it will spoil the surprise and she will insist on doing the rest of the cleanup!  WRONG. She hurried into the kitchen to let me know Nebraska is ahead 14 to 0 and left just as quickly.  I am quite sure she didn’t even notice the dishes or the mess.  Go Big Red.

Note to self: When Dorie and the contributing baker, Mary Bergin, find it necessary to write, “… and place the springform pan on a jelly roll pan to bake.”  Just do it.  Don’t even think your cake won’t drip through the parchment paper, drip pan, and tin foil.  It will. It did.

Second note to self:  Clean the oven.


Will I make this cake again? No. Am I glad I did it this time?. Yes. Just consider me your ever-so-humble baking servant. I bake so you will know when not to spend an entire afternoon on a Nectarine Upside-down Chiffon Cake.

I wrote the ending to my story before we ate the cake.  Here is the truth of it … my mom LOVED it! My husband LIKED it.  I thought it was PRETTY GOOD.  I took some to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Liz.  I told her she should probably eat it sooner rather than later because I didn’t know if it would be all that good tomorrow.  She dutifully ate it right away.  She called totally excited about the cake.  She said it was WONDERFUL and DELICIOUS and she couldn’t wait to see the recipe.  She is thinking of making the sponge cake and putting some of her canned fruit over the top! Listening to her, I actually got excited about it.  🙂 I am so fickle that way. 
You will find this recipe on page 241, 242, and 243 of Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking With Julia.  Thank you to our TWD hosts Marlise and Susan —  you will also find the recipe on their websites.

Susan of  The Little French Bakery

Win some, win some!
~Blessings, Catherine

Separate egg whites and yolks:

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40 thoughts on “TWD: BWJ Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake”

  2. I wish I had a sous chef dishwasher person in my life. That’s freakin awesome. I’m glad you enjoyed the cake. I have to say the second day was pretty good too.

  3. Maybe separating the eggs the plastic bottle way could be added to our TWD rooster 🙂 Wouldn’t it be fun to watch all the videos afterwards? Apples and nectarines sounds great!

  4. Your cake looks delicious! How did the apples cook compared to the nectarines? Did you slice the apples thinner? My nectarines were very tender to the point of dissolving into the gooey goodness on top of the cake. I have been thinking of using pears. I use the 4 bowl egg seperating method 1. crack the egg and using my hands separate the egg and let the white go into the first bowl. 2. Put the yolk in the second bowl. 3. Shell into bowl three 4. dump the egg white into the fourth grease free mixing bowl. Then I go onto the next egg and never have to face egg yolks in a bunch of egg whites ruining the whole batch like I have done. Thanks for stopping by my blog! Wendy

  5. Cute post 🙂
    I hope the oven cleaning went well. Judging by your results, it looks like you were well rewarded for your efforts. And it is nice to have such dutiful taste testers who obeyed the urging to prompty eat…

  9. What an excellent idea to use half apples! And I’ve been curious if that video really would work…glad to know I won’t need to try it out myself 🙂 Glad your family enjoyed this after all the time and effort 🙂

  10. Thank you for sharing the pictures of your messy kitchen. It looks just like mine! I really enjoyed your post, especially with the football comments interspersed. You *almost* had me rooting for big red.

    • I grew up in the great state of Nebraska but now reside in the Volunteer State! Although I look good in both red and orange (blush) red runs through my veins and occasionally I am forced to choose sides 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Blessings!

  13. Catherine, what a wonderful post, I love the fact that you used apple slices in addition to the nectarines, that fruit combo sounds delicious!

  14. We tried the egg separation technique, too, but it worked for us. I did one, my niece did one, and then my Dad came in and tried it. The whole thing threatened to upstage the cake! Luckily it was tasty enough that everyone forgot about the egg separation technique. Your cake looks lovely – the caramelization didn’t suffer from the leakage at all.

    • Hi Teresa! I think I was too heavy-handed for the egg yolks. I did get them in the bottle okay but then they broke apart while I was transferring them to another bowl. Could be flimsy egg yolks too! yeah, blame it on the yolk! ha!

  15. I saw that egg separating video last week as I think the rest of the world did on Facebook, and I thought it looked like I would totally have issues with yolks breaking. There’s got to be a well-practiced trick to it. 😉
    Don’t you just always feel great when you decide to go ahead with a recipe? There are many I think I should skip, but I’m always glad when I do it anyway. I like baking new things.
    Glad the cake was such a hit for you and your family.

    • Yes Katrina, you are so right. I do feel good when the recipe becomes reality and I am glad I did it. Really that is what joining this baking group was all about for me — making and creating things I would normally just pass right over! I love your website … you and he boys! Great pictures!

  16. OK, I’m going to HAVE to try the egg separating thing! And maybe even give the cake another go using apples. Wish I had a dish-washing sous chef! Oh, and let me recommend a natural product called Citra-Solv for cleaning the oven. Works without a bunch of awful chemicals.

  18. I saw that same egg video and wanted to give it a try…I guess I won’t waste my time. Your cake looks beautiful…glad everyone gave it a thumbs up!!

  19. Doggonit, Catherine!!! I was SOOOO hoping that danged egg separator video would be helpful … I apologize for leading you astray and getting your (and my) hopes up …
    BUT I love scrambled eggs, so I guess all was not lost. I have to agree, tho … we must have missed something CRITICAL during the translation. Enjoyed your post, tho, and chuckled to myself through it. I’m not a nectarine lover either, but I thought your cake LOOKED fabulous! 🙂

    • Oh Sandy, I received the egg video from several people and I just couldn’t wait to do it. I had my camera all set up and ready to GO! Then I tried it. and tried it. and tried it. Not as fun to do as it is to watch it! 🙂

  20. Catherine, great post. I waited to make this when I knew friends/family would be around to help me consume it…Labor Day BBQ…came in the nick of time. I saw the egg video…amazing…

    Carmen

    • I know what you mean to have help to eat it all. This was a big cake, turns out we shared a little but didn’t have trouble with the rest 🙂 We ate it over 3 days and each day it was just as good as the day before!

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