Upside-Down Lemon Sponge Cake With Lemon-Maple Butter Recipe (2024)

Step 5 seems needlessly elaborate. About 4 cups/1 liter of batter is piped into the pan, just to ensure "the lemons don’t move around too much"? The recipe's ratio of flour:sugar:butter:(eggs+milk) is approximately 1:1:1:1 by weight, which is standard for sponge cake (see Michael Ruhlman's book "Ratio", a good reference). So, given that this cake batter has standard viscosity, it could simply be transferred directly to the pan from the processor jar by slowly pouring+spatula.

This recipe looks quite tasty but an 8x12 baking pan is an issue. It may be a standard size in metric (most of the world's) kitchens but I doubt most US kitchens have that size pan and they are not widely available. Conversion to use a more standard 9x13 pan would have been nice.

"The mixture will look like it’s split a little with some smaller cubes of butter, but that’s O.K." Even if you do pipe, how do you propose that those little butter cubes are supposed to pass through the piping hole? If you make the hole big enough for them to pass, why not just *carefully* pour/guide the batter from the bowl onto the lemons?

24 lemon slices total, or 24 very thin slices from each lemon?

Too many vague instructions and none of my many baking dishes are the proper size. I would love to hear about any adjustments made by US cooks and their results from this recipe. Thank you.

I'm just sitting here wondering the same! How in the world are you supposed to get 24 intact slices out of a single lemon. I'm always drawn to the titles for Ottolenghi's recipes and then, when I read further there's usually a deal breaker for this home cook. I also agree with NJ cook about the 1 1/4 cups of maple syrup. Really?! I just bought some Meyer lemons yesterday. I'm going to use this as inspiration and do my own version with thicker lemon slices and less maple syrup.

I would crawl on hands and knees to get a seat and a meal in an Ottolenghi restaurant, but I think almost all of his recipes are precious, finicky, over-complicated, with ingredients that are either hard to find or not useful in anything but that specific recipe. Not insurmountable of course and maybe just right for a special meal, but they don't show much understanding of the rhythms and demands of home cooks. More galling when he says they're "simple".

And how do you ‘easily’ test for doneness with a toothpick with parchment paper and foil wrap. ( and water bath ..). Hope to read some real time experiences- as I do have some Meyer Lemons looking for a job.....and plenty of maple syrup....

Yes. Immediately rejected this recipe for that reason alone.

Used a 9x13" pan and it worked out fine, except the cooking time was longer than instructed -- ended up cooking it for 80 minutes and it still seemed a little undercooked. Also piped the batter as instructed, but as noted previously, this step could have been skipped. In the end it tasted yummy.

Eyeballing the picture of the cake would suggest 24 total, but eyeballing the lemon on my counter suggests there are way more than 8 thin slices per lemon, so good question. Given that lemons are about 2.5-3inches long, I think he means per lemon, 72 slices total. Seems like quite a lot for a pan that small!

Of course, 24 slices from 3 lemons - I think that's pretty clear, it says "total".And I guess the size of the pan was changed from the original to a 10 x 14 - pretty large pan, more delicious cake.

Seems to be some confusion as to the lemons. Folks, just slice the lemons as thin as you can and just use what you get...it's not a watch, it's a cake. BTW, 1/10*24=2.4 - which is about the size of a lemon. So, yeah, that's a lot of lemon slices from those 3 lemons.

I envy you.Try making preserved/fermented limes, which give a citrus hit to anything. Slice & deseed a batch of limes, pack tightly in layers in glass jar(s) with a sprinkling of salt between each layer (8 g salt/100g limes). *Completely exclude air* from jar by pressing down hard to release juice and packing to the brim. Seal jar, keep at room temp. (or in sunlight). Fermentation completes in 1 month, after which the preserve can be kept at room temperature. (I'm still using last year's batch.)

The cake was very good with a few adjustments. Cutting the lemons for 8 slices per lemon worked perfectly. It is very important to cook the cake for around 90 minutes. At 60 minutes the cake is not even close to being done. I didn’t have creme fresh so instead I whipped up some heavy whipping creme and it still paired well with the cake. Lastly make sure anyone eating the cake doesn’t pick the lemons off. Eat all of the lemon slices as they make the dessert much better counteract the sweetness.

1. An 11 x 7 pan works fine. 2. Cooking time is at least 60 minutes. 3. I omitted the extra yolk, and it worked out just fine. 4. If you really like lemon, go ahead, but don’t sacrifice a really good non-stick pan. I’ll never restore the surface of mine. It seems permanently scarred. 5. If you live where citrus is plentiful, consider candying it and then adding it to this recipe. Even sliced very thin, the rinds are chewy and distract from the flavor. Same w/vanilla bean, just use vanilla paste.

After reading all the notes from this recipe I feel much better. I agree: The amount of lemon slices needed is absurd along with the pan needed. Using a piping bag is completely unnecessary and the time allotted for the recipe is not even close to being accurate. You cannot test for doneness without removing the aluminum foil and parchment paper. Why is the hot water bath even necessary? This recipe made me question life and now I don’t have to after getting therapy from the comments.

This was a delicious cake. No idea what everyone is moaning about it was so straightforward to make. No need to pipe the batter just spread it on with a spatula. Also caramelising the lemons first makes it so much better. Was really good without adding extra maple butter at the end.

I made this and it was delicious! Made a few modifications— Cooked in a 9x13 pan for about 85 mins Put down about 2 tbsp maple syrup instead of the half cup that it says to put down with the lemons Added a bit of lemon zest to the cake batter In the syrup/ sauce you make at the end— I added more lemon juice and less maple syrup

I was worried about this reading the notes but shouldn’t have. Slightly slapdash- extra people coming for dessert on Christmas Day, working with what I had- skipped the piping, used square 10x10 tin inside roasting pan (all that fitted), made do with parchment lid as foil ran out! It was completely fine, lots of compliments. Made more sauce for day 2…

I liked it but it was too much on the sweet side and not enough on the lemony side. I would add zest to the sponge the next time. But it was great fun to try out steaming a cake, I've never done that before. Getting the lemons charred to the right degree was a bit difficult. Too thin and they quickly just burnt so I redid a few to get it right.

I am not a baker and this turned out great! Mods: I halved the recipe, using two whole eggs. Used liquid vanilla instead of vanilla pods and didn’t use a piping bag to add the batter to the pan — I just blopped it in with a spoon. Also I don’t have a mixer so I beat the batter by hand.

I just made this and it is both beautiful to look at absolutely delicious! The recipe baking time however, was considerably off. I cooked it wrapped up foil and in a steam bath as per the recipe and after 60 minutes the cake was still quite runny. At that point, I took it out of the water, removed the foil, opened the parchment and baked at 350 degrees for another 20 minutes until the toothpick came out clean.

To cut lemons (right-handed)Cut 3 lemons into 6 halves. Cut 4 slices from each half = 24 slices total.For each lemon half:1) Position flesh side down on cutting board. Hold lemon half in place with left hand, and make an initial thin parallel cut w chef's knife in right hand.2) Slowly rotate lemon half counterclockwise w left hand, keeping knife parallel and right hand in place, until a thin slice is set free. Repeat until you have 4 slices, then go on to the next lemon half.

Halved, this recipe fits nicely in an 8x8 baking tin: 1 large lemon sliced, 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1/2 vanilla bean, 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, scant 1/4t salt, 1/2 cup butter, 2 eggs, scant 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons maple syrup. Bake time was ~75 minutes in my Pyrex.

Super easy! I actually used 1 cup mascarpone instead of creme fraîche. Used a 13X9 and it cam out beautifully.

Made this cake last night and it was a bit of a disappointment. It’s way too sweet and claggy. Charred lemons provide some balance but 165ml of maple syrup is way too much! I also agree with baking it for at least 80min; at 60min it was nowhere near to be done. I suppose if I decide to make this again, I’ll use maybe a quarter or even less of maple syrup, cut the lemons into thicker slices so they don’t stick to the pan and tear while charting, skip the pipping bag, and bake it for 80-90min.

Two useful time-saving hacks that seemed to work: 1) Grill the lemons instead of charring them on a stovetop. I sprayed a baking rack with cooking spray, then put it on top of a baking sheet and broiled the lemons until charred, flipping midway. Pro tip: cover the pan with foil so you don’t have to clean up the drips. 2) I opted for the 9” round pan and also reduced the ingredients by 1/3, but used a spring-form pan. Made it super-easy to invert the plan with just the springform base in place.

The cake itself is quite good, but the lemons were bitter and so tough as to be unchewable. We ended up removing the lemons and throwing them into the compost.

Absolutely delicious and straight forward recipe. Didn’t see the need to pip into pan and used a standard American 9x13 brownie pan. Took much longer to cook but turned out delicious!