Gooseberry and honey upside down cake (dairy-free)

My dad loves gooseberries. For someone with such a sweet tooth I found this rather odd. Also, because our lone gooseberry bush gave us a pitiful 12 berries a year, I had never tried one to see what all the fuss is about. My mum would make a miniature one-man crumble for my dad each year. This spring we decided enough was enough. Mum moved our bush into its own luxury raised-bed in the garden. Good plan. The wee plant tripled in size and flowered away happily. It then gave us about 5kg of berries.

So now I have to find ways to use them all. My mum kept some and froze them topped and tailed ready for when inspiration struck. We also gave 3kg to my boyfriend’s mum who is plotting her jam making as we speak. I decided that an upside down cake was a nice change to crumble or Eve’s pudding so that was my first bake. I have also been fiddling with a gooseberry and cranberry streusel slice recipe that I will share once I have perfected it, I feel it is missing cinnamon just now.

Gooseberry and honey upside down cake (dairy-free)

100g caster sugar
100g Vitalite (or other dairy free margarine)
100g self-rasing flour
2 eggs
300g gooseberries
8tbsp honey

1. Preheat oven to 170°c fan oven, 190°C conventional or Gas Mark 5. Grease the bottom and sides of a 20cm/8” round cake tin. Cut a circle of baking paper to fit the bottom of the tin, insert and then grease the paper also. Seems excessive but the stickiest bit of this cake will make a lot of contact with the base of the tin.
2. Cream margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and flour and beat well. I let my mixer do all the work!
3. Meanwhile, top and tail the gooseberries. (This means chop a wee bit off each end, I didn’t know this until the first time I cooked with them. I think ‘top and tail’ is pretty cute though!). Spoon the honey into the bottom of the prepared tin. Lay your gooseberries out, packed tightly together like fruity crazy paving together.
4. Spoon the sponge mixture on top of the fruit and spread until level. To make sure the sponge crust doesn’t cook too quickly I put tin foil over the cake tin for the first 20mins of cooking. Then remove foil and cook for a further 20mins. Sponge will be golden with bubbles showing and will spring back after a gentle prod.
5. Leave to cool completely before turning out. Once fully cooled, yes I’m afraid this may take hours, run a knife around the outside of the cake and turn out onto a plate. Peel of the baking paper and admire your work. I like to keep a couple of gooseberries with their leaves and twigs on to decorate the centre.
6. Optional final step, take a photo and tag it #amysbakes on Instagram or Twitter so I can see your lovely bake. Enjoy!