the girl with the baked goods: Chocolate Nut Upside-Down Cake

It's my first Christmas away from home. And so, it's the first time I'm getting my own tree, lugging it home, fixing it up and hanging only the ornaments I like. Although I must admit lugging the tree home in the cold winter ain't much fun (actually no, I didn't do any of the lugging, my better half had the lovely honor of doing that!) but hey, now I can say I am having a white Christmas!

So the tree is up, giving the apartment a nice warmth feel. And this means some kinda holiday cake is in place! I ditched some fashion magazines the past couple of weeks for some fine baking magazines and found a yummy-looking cake to bake. It's a chocolate cake topped with assorted nuts that's covered with caramel. And the fun part is, it's an upside-down cake! It's my first upside-down cake, so needless to say, I was quite nervous about it and was expecting for all the nuts to get stuck to the bottom of the cake pan instead of the cake. But, with beginners' luck, the cake turned upside-down-ly well!

Assorted nuts, caramel and chocolate...it's a recipe for yumminess! Here's what you'll need:

Caramel:

- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar

- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter

- 3 tablespoons water

Nuts topping:

- 1 1/4 cups assorted nuts (I chose hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts)

Chocolate cake:

- 1 1/3 cups flour

- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter

- 1 cup white granulated sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 3 eggs

- 1/2 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the sides of a 9 inch round cake pan.

2. Caramel: Place the brown sugar, butter and water into a saucepan and cook it over medium heat, stirring often until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth.

3. Bring the mixture to a boil and pour it into the cake pan.

4. Nuts topping: Place the nuts in a baking tray and toast them in the oven for 10 mins.

5. Then cool the nuts by wrapping them with dish towels.

6. Once the nuts are cooled, chop the nuts and scatter them in the cake pan and gently press them into the caramel.

7. Chocolate cake: Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

8. In another bowl, cream the butter until smooth.

9. Pour in the white sugar gradually and beat until fluffy.

10. Beat in the vanilla extract. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time, beat well after each addition.

11. Then pour in half of the flour/cocoa mixture and beat well. Next, pour in the buttermilk and beat well. Then finish it by adding in the remaining flour/cocoa mixture and mix well.

12. Pour the batter into the cake pan and spread it evenly. Lightly tap the cake pan on the kitchen table to settle the ingredients.

13. Bake for 45 mins until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

14. Run a knife along the inside edge of the cake pan then, set a plate on top of the pan and invert the cake. Let it sit for 5 mins to let the nuts topping settle.