Bake off champion Giuseppe’s upside down cake
Giuseppe Dell'Anno won the nation's hearts when he was crowned winner of the Great British Bake Off in 2021. And today he’s showing off his winning talents in our kitchen. He’ll be making a clementine upside-down cake.
Upside-down clementine cake with mascarpone sauce
Serves up to 12
Ingredients
For the cake:Butter, for greasing (use vegetable spread for a dairy-free version)4 unwaxed organic clementines, plus 2-3 extra fruits for their juice 150g egg (about 3 medium eggs), at room temperature200g caster sugar, plus 2 tbsp for dusting ⅛ tsp salt1 tsp vanilla bean paste120g vegetable oil, preferably corn or sunflower ½ tsp natural orange essence (optional)150g soft wheat 00 flour or plain (all-purpose) flour80g cornflour2 tsp baking powder
For the mascarpone sauce:250g mascarpone 130g whipping cream80g icing sugar2 tsp vanilla bean pasteZest of 1 unwaxed orange2 tbsp Marsala, Cointreau or Grand Marnier
Method
1. Set the shelf in the lower half of the oven and preheat it to 180°C/ 350°F/Gas mark 4. Grease a 23cm springform tin and line the base with baking paper. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar on the base of the lined tin.
2. Peel the 4 clementines and very finely chop the peel of 2 fruits (discard the rest). Set aside the peel. Slice the peeled clementines in half horizontally, remove any seeds, and arrange each half, cut-side down, on the sugared baking paper in the base of the tin.
3. Squeeze the extra clementines to make 100g (½ cup) of juice and set aside.
4. Add the eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla to a large bowl and whisk at high speed with a handheld electric whisk (or use a stand mixer) until the sugar has completely dissolved and the mixture is pale and fluffy; it will take about 3-4 minutes. With the whisk still going, trickle the oil into the bowl, add the orange essence (if using) and whisk for about 1 minute to emulsify it fully. Then trickle in the clementine juice and whisk for a further minute.
5. Sift the flour, cornflour and baking powder into the bowl and whisk again at low speed until the batter looks smooth, without any lumps of flour. Add the reserved chopped clementine peel and fold it in with a spatula. Slowly, pour the batter in the tin, making sure that the clementines are not displaced in the process.
6. Wrap the tin in a wet cake belt (if using) and bake for 46-48 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the deepest part of the cake comes out clean. Leave in the tin to cool for at least 15 minutes.
7. For the mascarpone cream, place the mascarpone, cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl and mix the ingredients together with a spoon to break up the large clumps of mascarpone. Gently whisk by hand or use a handheld electric whisk at low speed, just long enough to combine all the ingredients into a smooth, pourable sauce.
8. Fold the orange zest and liquor into the sauce and place into the fridge chill.
9. Once the cake has finished baking, invert it onto a serving plate. Carefully peel off the baking paper to reveal the fruit. Serve at room temperature alongside the chilled mascarpone cream. The upside-down clementine cake keeps for up to 3-4 days under a cake dome and the mascarpone cream lasts for up to two days in the fridge. Give it a gentle stir before serving.