My landlord’s parents have a persimmon tree and a pomegranate tree, so I’ve been recently inundated with Autumnal bounty. It’s awesome! The persimmons aren’t super ripe yet, so I saw no option but to bake with them, as a way of softening them up and bringing out their natural sweetnesses, but also covering them in caramel. Initially I had wanted to do a version of my Sicilian breakfast pear cake, but I wanted to try my hand at making caramel without burning it, so here we are.
The cake itself came out really dense and moist. The moisture was desirable, but the tightly packed cake could have been lighter, which was definitely a function of overfilling the cake pan before baking. I made the recipe again, careful not to overfill the pan, and the texture is much improved. I’ve seen recipes with a way higher proportion of baking powder to baking soda, but I find that those batters turn out chalky and the end product is more like a bread than a cake, but with this 1-1 ratio, the cake is airy and crumby, but still moist. Either way, after both of my attempts the caramel was able to penetrate the batter and the blend of the two components was really successful. The persimmons just add a slight freshness to it all, and all of their toughness was alleviated during the bake. In the end I garnished with pomegranate seeds and blackberries, mainly as an afterthought; the sour tartness was completely game changing. Paired with coffee, it’s the perfect breakfast.
Butter Count: 16 Tbsp
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup dark brown sugar
8 Tbsp butter, cubed
1 1/2 tsp salt, separated
2 cups flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
8 Tbsp butter, melted
3 persimmons, sliced into 1/8-inch rounds (no need to skin first)
~2 Tbsp pomegranate seeds
~5 blackberries, halved
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)
Whipped cream for serving (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS:
Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with butter. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
Add the brown sugar, cubed butter, and 1 tsp salt to a small saucepan over medium heat . Whisk the mixture until the butter is completely melted and the sugar is dissolved.
Boil the sugar gently about 3 minutes until it is deep amber. It’s better to under-caramelize than to over-caramelize, so if you see it start to burn even a little bit, immediately pour it into the prepared cake pan (do this after 3 minutes either way). The caramel will quickly begin to harden, so hastily spread it evenly across the bottom of the cake pan with a rubber spatula.
Cover the caramel with the persimmon slices in whatever beautiful pattern you can think of. Overlapping is fine, so don’t worry if you have multiple layers.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, the remaining 1/2 tsp salt, cinnamon, ginger powder, and nutmeg in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and fold together with a rubber spatula until there is a smooth batter. Make sure there are no flour lumps.
Pour the batter into the cake pan, over the persimmons, and use a rubber spatula to flatten the top of the batter.
Bake about 50 minutes on the middle rack (lower racks will cause the caramel to burn). Use a toothpick or a metal skewer to test for doneness; if you insert it into the center of the cake, and remove it with no batter residue on it, then the cake is ready. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool about 25 minutes in the cake pan.
Run a small paring knife along the edge of the cake to separate the sides. Invert the pan onto a plate and lift the pan off, careful not to burn yourself on molten caramel.
Top with pomegranate seeds and blackberries before serving.
Dust with powdered sugar and serve with dollops of whipped cream, if desired.