Coffee-Caramel Eggplant Upside-Down Cake
This recipe from Jesse Martinez’s Portland, Oregon, restaurant, Gumba, tweaks the classic Italian citrus and olive oil upside-down cake to boldly feature eggplant.
1 10-inch cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the base of a 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper and brush the sides with olive oil.
- Cut the eggplant into roughly ½-inch cubes.
- Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and sauté the eggplant, stirring occasionally, until it is well caramelized and tender, roughly 10 minutes. If you don’t have a pan large enough to hold all the eggplant, work in batches.
- If you split your eggplant into batches, return it all to the pan once cooked and add in the sugar, continuing to cook over medium-high heat. Stir frequently and cook until it takes on a dark amber hue, about 5 minutes.
- Next, add the coffee and continue cooking over medium-high heat until the eggplant is coated in a thick caramel. Spread the mixture evenly across the bottom of the lined springform pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and both brown and white sugars until smooth. Add the olive oil, buttermilk, and lemon zest, whisking until well incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add the dry mix to the wet and whisk until just incorporated, then pour the batter over the eggplant in the springform pan.
- Bake the cake for 55 to 60 minutes. The sides will start to pull away from the pan and the top of the cake will become slightly domed. Once baked, a cake tester will come out clean when inserted into the center, and the surface should spring back when pressed gently with a finger. (Such a moist cake affords a larger window for baking—err on the side of an extra 5 minutes when in doubt.)
