Upside-Down Snack Cakes
The possibilities are almost endless when it comes to creating these fruited upside-down snack cakes. Moist, delicious, and so easy to make, here are six different recipes to get you started.
I recently found myself in a situation where I needed to bake a small cake and didn’t have the time to make it from scratch. I wanted the convenience of a boxed cake mix but didn’t need the quantity of cake a full box mix provides.
I know it sounds kind of odd but using just half of a boxed cake mix turned out to be the perfect solution. Don’t worry about how you’re going to use the other half of the mix. These fruited upside-down snack cakes are so good, I guarantee you’ll be making more of them.
I came up with six recipes, using three different flavored cake mixes (lemon, devil’s food, and yellow). All of the recipes use half of a 15.25-ounce cake mix. The most accurate way to ensure that you’re using half of the mix is to weigh it with a kitchen scale. For each snack cake recipe, you’ll need 7.6 ounces (216 grams) of cake mix. If you don’t have a scale, use 1 3/4 cups of cake mix for each recipe.
Cake mixes usually call for the addition of 1 cup water, 3 large eggs, and a 1/2 cup oil. It’s easy to halve the water and oil, but measuring one and a half eggs is a bit trickier. After multiple tests, I found adding a 1/2 cup water, 2 large eggs, and 3 tablespoons oil to half of a boxed cake mix worked really well.
From a “healthier recipe” standpoint, what I like about these snack cakes is they don’t require frosting. A frosting-free cake eliminates a significant number of calories. Take buttercream frosting for example. Topping one of these half-sized cakes with 3/4 cup of buttercream frosting would add over 800 calories and 15 grams of saturated fat.
Of course, there are lots of fruit and flavored cake mix combinations to try. Let me get you started with six ideas. My Citrus Upside-Down Snack Cake, and Blueberry and Kiwi Upside-Down Snack Cake both feature a lemon cake mix. If you enjoy devil’s food cake, try the Chocolate Raspberry or Chocolate Cherry Upside-Down Snack Cake. And, if you’re a yellow cake fan, you’re going to love the Apple Walnut Upside-Down Snack Cake and Pear Upside-Down Snack Cake.
I hope you’ll share your fruit and cake mix combination ideas in the comment section below. I would love to know what you’re baking.
To your health,
Darlene
CITRUS UPSIDE-DOWN SNACK CAKE
Yield: 12 servings
Serving Size: 1 piece cake
Prep: 10 minutes
Ready: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 medium naval orange, peeled
1 medium blood orange, peeled
1 3/4 cups (7.6 ounces) lemon cake mix (half of a 15.25-ounce box)
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons canola oil
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat the bottom and sides of a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Evenly sprinkle brown sugar over entire bottom of pan. Slice each orange into 6 slices and place in a single layer on top of brown sugar.
In a bowl, blend cake mix, water, eggs, and oil with a hand mixer on low speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed for 1 minute. Pour batter over orange slices and carefully spread into an even layer.
Bake for 20 to 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes (allowing the cake to sit longer than 20 minutes in the pan will cause it to stick, making removal difficult). Run a knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Invert cake onto a serving platter and allow to cool.
Cook’s Note: If you want to boost the lemon flavor of this cake, add 1 teaspoon lemon zest or 1 teaspoon lemon extract to the cake batter.
Nutrition Information per Serving
158 Calories, 5 g Total fat, 1 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 29 mg Cholesterol, 160 mg Sodium, 26 g Total carbohydrate, 0 g Dietary fiber, 19 g Total sugars, 17 g Added sugars, 2 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 36 mg (2%) Calcium, 0 mg (0%) Iron, 31 mg (0%) Potassium
© 2023 RECIPES MADE HEALTHY BY DARLENE ZIMMERMAN, MS, RD LLC
BLUEBERRY AND KIWI UPSIDE-DOWN SNACK CAKE
Yield: 12 servings
Serving Size: 1 piece cake
Prep: 10 minutes
Ready: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 small kiwis, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup blueberries
1 3/4 cups (7.6 ounces) lemon cake mix (half of a 15.25-ounce box)
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons canola oil
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat the bottom and sides of a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Evenly sprinkle brown sugar over entire bottom of pan. Evenly distribute kiwi slices and blueberries over top of brown sugar.
In a bowl blend cake mix, water, eggs, and oil with a hand mixer on low speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed for 1 minute. Pour batter over fruit and carefully spread into an even layer.
Bake for 20 to 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes (allowing the cake to sit longer than 20 minutes in the pan will cause it to stick, making removal difficult). Run a knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Invert cake onto a serving platter and allow to cool.
Cook’s Note: If you want to boost the lemon flavor of this cake, add 1 teaspoon lemon zest or 1 teaspoon lemon extract to the cake batter.
Nutrition Information per Serving
158 Calories, 5 g Total fat, 1 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 29 mg Cholesterol, 160 mg Sodium, 26 g Total carbohydrate, 0 g Dietary fiber, 18 g Total sugars, 17 g Added sugars, 2 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 33 mg (2%) Calcium, 1 mg (6%) Iron, 33 mg (0%) Potassium
© 2023 RECIPES MADE HEALTHY BY DARLENE ZIMMERMAN, MS, RD LLC
CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY UPSIDE-DOWN SNACK CAKE
Yield: 12 servings
Serving Size: 1 piece cake
Prep: 10 minutes
Ready: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups raspberries
1 3/4 cup (7.6 ounces) devil’s food cake mix (half of a 15.25-ounce box)
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons canola oil
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat the bottom and sides of a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Evenly sprinkle brown sugar over entire bottom of pan. Place raspberries in a single layer on top of brown sugar.
In a bowl blend cake mix, water, eggs, and oil with a hand mixer on low speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed for 1 minute. Pour batter over raspberries and carefully spread into an even layer (it’s fine if the tops of some raspberries stick out slightly above the batter).
It's ok if some of the raspberries poke through the top of the batter Bake for 20 to 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes (allowing the cake to sit longer than 20 minutes in the pan will cause it to stick, making removal difficult). Run a knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Invert cake onto a serving platter and allow to cool.
Nutrition Information per Serving
159 Calories, 6 g Total fat, 1 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 29 mg Cholesterol, 151 mg Sodium, 25 g Total carbohydrate, 1 g Dietary fiber, 17 g Total sugars, 16 g Added sugars, 2 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 31 mg (2%) Calcium, 1 mg (6%) Iron, 72 mg (2%) Potassium
© 2023 RECIPES MADE HEALTHY BY DARLENE ZIMMERMAN, MS, RD LLC
CHOCOLATE CHERRY UPSIDE-DOWN SNACK CAKE
Yield: 12 servings
Serving Size: 1 piece cake
Prep: 10 minutes
Ready: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 can (15 ounce) red tart cherries packed in water, drained
1 3/4 cup (7.6 ounces) devil’s food cake mix (half of a 15.25-ounce box)
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons canola oil
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat the bottom and sides of a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Evenly sprinkle brown sugar over entire bottom of pan. Place drained cherries in a single layer on top of brown sugar.
In a bowl blend cake mix, water, eggs, and oil with a hand mixer on low speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed for 1 minute. Pour batter over cherries and carefully spread into an even layer (it’s fine if the tops of some cherries stick out slightly above the batter).
Bake for 20 to 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes (allowing the cake to sit longer than 20 minutes in the pan will cause it to stick, making removal difficult). Run a knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Invert cake onto a serving platter and allow to cool.
Nutrition Information per Serving
164 Calories, 6 g Total fat, 1 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 29 mg Cholesterol, 154 mg Sodium, 26 g Total carbohydrate, 1 g Dietary fiber, 19 g Total sugars, 16 g Added sugars, 2 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 30 mg (2%) Calcium, 1 mg (6%) Iron, 105 mg (2%) Potassium
© 2023 RECIPES MADE HEALTHY BY DARLENE ZIMMERMAN, MS, RD LLC
APPLE WALNUT UPSIDE-DOWN SNACK CAKE
Yield: 12 servings
Serving Size: 1 piece cake
Prep: 10 minutes
Ready: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup walnut halves, chopped
1 large apple, unpeeled and thinly sliced
1 3/4 cup (7.6 ounces) yellow cake mix (half of a 15.25-ounce box)
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons canola oil
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat the bottom and sides of a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Evenly sprinkle brown sugar over entire bottom of pan. Evenly distribute nuts over brown sugar. Arrange apple slices in a single layer over nuts.
In a bowl blend cake mix, water, eggs, and oil with a hand mixer on low speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed for 1 minute. Pour batter over apple slices and carefully spread into an even layer.
Bake for 20 to 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes (allowing the cake to sit longer than 20 minutes in the pan will cause it to stick, making removal difficult). Run a knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Invert cake onto a serving platter and allow to cool.
Nutrition Information per Serving
179 Calories, 7 g Total fat, 1 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 29 mg Cholesterol, 124 mg Sodium, 26 g Total carbohydrate, 1 g Dietary fiber, 19 g Total sugars, 17 g Added sugars, 2 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 26 mg (2%) Calcium, 1 mg (6%) Iron, 53 mg (2%) Potassium
© 2023 RECIPES MADE HEALTHY BY DARLENE ZIMMERMAN, MS, RD LLC
PEAR UPSIDE-DOWN SNACK CAKE
Yield: 12 servings
Serving Size: 1 piece cake
Prep: 10 minutes
Ready: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large pear, unpeeled and thinly sliced
1 3/4 cup (7.6 ounces) yellow cake mix (half of a 15.25-ounce box)
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons canola oil
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously coat the bottom and sides of a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Evenly sprinkle brown sugar over entire bottom of pan. Place pear slices in a single layer on top of brown sugar.
In a bowl blend cake mix, water, eggs, and oil with a hand mixer on low speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed for 1 minute. Pour batter over pear slices and carefully spread into an even layer.
Bake for 20 to 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes (allowing the cake to sit longer than 20 minutes in the pan will cause it to stick, making removal difficult). Run a knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Invert cake onto a serving platter and allow to cool.
Nutrition Information per Serving
163 Calories, 5 g Total fat, 1 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 29 mg Cholesterol, 124 mg Sodium, 26 g Total carbohydrate, 1 g Dietary fiber, 19 g Total sugars, 17 g Added sugars, 2 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 24 mg (2%) Calcium, 0 mg (0%) Iron, 45 mg (0%) Potassium
© 2023 RECIPES MADE HEALTHY BY DARLENE ZIMMERMAN, MS, RD LLC
