Hibiscus Peach Upside Down Cake

One of the things I really enjoyed about the rhythm of this summer was how frequently I made and photographed archerfriendly food. Check out my Instagram account for all that I have been making! Having time to work on my food and photography projects was unusual. That may sound like I had all this time — I didn’t. It’s more so that there was never any space prior to this.

Three summers ago, I was massively studying for my board exams 24-7.

Two summers ago, I was working in a really busy practice and putting in a lot of extra time covering for another doctor. That summer was a rough one. One of the times I covered for the other doctor, I had been working so much that I didn’t see my kids for three days in a row. Still hurts me now, in so many more ways than I can explain in a peach upside down cake post.

Last summer, I did a two month long locum tenens position at a conventional pediatric clinic. I loved it to pieces, but it was busy. When I went to San Francisco last June, I had 100 undone charts to do when I got back. And then, as soon as I finished my locum tenens position, I went into high gear to start my practice. I was on a deadline to open my practice by a certain time, so no minutes could be used up towards anything else.

Going into this summer, I knew I needed space. Badly. I stopped going to therapy, we took the girls out of piano lessons, and I scheduled a week long staycation.

I created the space to invest in something I love to do. This is my art.

Investments like this bring forth life. They fill you up. They nourish you.

It is this kind of behavior, this choosing to make space to do what you love, that cultivates the health your body craves.

Developing an archerfriendly recipe from scratch and then photographing it on a day the Seattle sun cooperates takes a lot of effort, sweat, and shin dents. There is no part of that process that I dislike. I love the hustle of it all, maybe a little too much. It took me a bit to understand why my shins were so sore, until I realized that I’m balancing my shins on the safety bar of my 3-step stool to get an overhead photograph.

A few weeks ago, I upgraded to a multi-step stool, which has helped considerably. Only now, I’m standing on the top step without any kind of safety bar for support. I still use the shin balancing method on my 3-step stool, as that one is a lot easier to move around my antique table with weird shaped legs that jut out. Speaking of that antique table, we found it at a thrift store in July and the Wendy’s Eating Husband white washed it for me. I am in love with how much it has improved the look and feel of my food photography.

This summer has taught me how much I enjoy the entire process of creating a recipe from scratch and then photographing the final product, shin dents and all. It is so much fun. I love writing about it here on the blog, of course, but I couldn’t keep up with the pace I was going at this summer! The photography is particularly gratifying because it provides tangible evidence of all my hard work.

And now I get to show off all my hard work with a gluten-free Hibiscus Peach Upside Down Cake!

I LOVE THIS CAKE IN EVERY WAY. Look how pretty it is! My initial goal was to make the peach colors POP. I get a little thrill making my healthy food look beautiful, and I’ve seen some pale peaches on the internet’s offering of peach upside down cakes. To make the peaches POP, I sprinkled about a tablespoon of carrot juice around the peaches with a medicine dropper. To accentuate the reddish inside of the peach, I used dried hibiscus flowers. The peaches looked very peachy, but I’m not sure if it was due to the carrot juice or not. If it helped, I think I used too much carrot juice as the extra moisture made the parchment paper rumple.

No one likes rumples. I was tempted to photoshop them out. But, there they are. I left the carrot juice droppings out of the recipe (now it sounds like bunny poop).

Dried hibiscus petals are sprinkled on the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan, along with the sliced peaches. They win the POP award. That reddish magenta you see in the cake is from the hibiscus petals! No boring upside down cake here, and this one is even sugar free.

The day that I made this delicious gluten-free cake, the Wendy’s Eating Husband ate two slices. Our family finished the cake in less than 24 hours. It’s THAT good. This is sweetened with 1 Tablespoon honey, stevia, and then the peaches. That is it.

Hibiscus Peach Upside Down Cake

Ingredients

• 2 fresh peaches
• a pinch of dried hibiscus petals

Dry

• 2 cups buckwheat flour (from raw, hulled buckwheat)
• 1/4 cup ground flax seeds
• 3 Tablespoons collagen hydrolysate powder (Great Lakes or Vital Proteins)
• 1/2 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon saigon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon powdered stevia
• tiny pinch salt

Wet

• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1 Tablespoon honey

Makes one 9 inch cake

1. Remove peach skins by dropping them, one by one, in boiling water for about 15 seconds (or until skin splits). Immediately remove from the boiling water. Peach skin should rub off easily.
2. Preheat oven to 350° F.
3. Place a circular piece of parchment paper at the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan. Liberally grease the sides of the pan with coconut oil.
4. Slice peeled peaches carefully. Place them in the bottom of the cake pan. Any leftovers can be chopped up and sprinkled on the top of the cake.
5. Carefully sprinkle in a few dried hibiscus flower petals, making sure the petals are on the bottom of the pan between the peaches. Put at least one dried petal by each peach.
6. Mix dry ingredients together: the buckwheat flour, ground flax seeds, the collagen hydrolysate powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, stevia, and salt.
7. Mix the wet ingredients together: the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, vanilla, coconut milk, and honey.
8. Combine wet and dry ingredients by slowing pouring the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix well. Batter will be thicker.
9. Carefully pour the batter over the peaches in the cake pan, using a spatula to even the batter.
10. If you have a few extra peach slices, chop them, and sprinkle them on the top. Press them down into the batter. Since the cake will be flipped upside down, the top of the cake needs to be even.
11. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes at 350° F.
12. After the cake has cooled for 15 minutes, carefully flip the cake out of the pan and onto a cake stand or large plate.
13. Serve hot or cold.

Notes:

• I grind my own buckwheat flour in my dry Vitamix container.
• If you are not used to the stevia taste, you may want to try using less in the recipe. I’m a stevia addict, so I tend to use more.

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