Blueberry Hazelnut Up-side-down Cake

Hello there– I grew up eating “pineapple upside down cake.”  You know.  The one topped with the pineapple rings with all those bright red cherries.  But I’ve discovered just about any fruit will make a lovely up side down cake– apples, peaches, pears, plums.  I’ve enjoyed quite a few of these things when summer fruit it sweet.  So here is the blueberry hazelnut version.  Sweet enough for dessert, but it works just fine as a morning coffee cake too.

BLUEBERRY HAZELNUT UP-SIDE-DOWN CAKE
1/2 cup hazelnuts, cut in half (or walnuts, pecans, almonds…)
1 full cup blueberries (or more!)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Spray a 9″ or 10″ cake pan with cooking spray.  Then melt the butter and pour it all to cover the bottom of the cake pan.  Sprinkle the brown sugar over the butter and next cover that all with the hazelnuts and then the blueberries.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Mix in the milk, oil, egg and vanilla.  Scrape all that cake batter into the pan over the blueberries and hazelnuts.  And bake the whole thing up at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is browned and firm to the touch.

As soon as you take the cake out of the oven, set a large plate over the top of the cake pan and flip it so that the cake falls from the cake pan down onto the plate.  If a little of the blueberry topping sticks in the cake pan, scrape it our and spread it onto the cake with a rubber scrapper.

This is delicious hot or cooled and it’s always better with a big spoonful of whipped cream!  Hope you enjoy it!