make lemonade.

When strawberries are in season, make strawberry upside down cake.

And when you’re gluten intolerant, do it anyway.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

I was in a weird mood tonight.  I told my roomies that I needed some “Jen-Jen” time.  I did.  Real bad.  I locked myself in my room and laid on my bed.  Didn’t do anything.  Just laid there.  Then I watched Gilmore Girls.  Then I laid there some more.  It was pretty great.

I made this cake a few nights ago.  It was amazing fresh.  It wasn’t bad a few days old, though.  That is to say: I’d totally eat another piece.

But let’s talk about this cake.  It’s basically a pineapple upside down cake minus the molasses and canned fruit.  I’m pretty ok with those.  And then, naturally, I removed all of the gluten as well.  That part is optional, I suppose.  Here are the details:

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Strawberry Upside-down Cake:

• 1 pint strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1-2 Tbls. butter, melted
• 1 box yellow cake mix, prepared according to directions on box

Note: These are really approximations.  A lot of it is going to depend on the cake mix you use and the pan you put it in.  GF cake mixes usually make less than standard boxed cake mixes.  If you’re curious, I went Betty Crocker.  But only because I’m new to this, and it’s one of the cheapest I could find.  I also cooked mine in my 10 inch spring form pan.  The spring form-iness of the pan wasn’t the point, so if you don’t have one, don’t sweat it.  I was just going for a big pan that would create the maximum strawberry to cake ratio.  More cake is going to mean more strawberries and more sugar.  Be flexible, and have fun.

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease the bottom of your pan.  Seriously.  I mean lightly.  Spread the strawberry slices all over the bottom of your pan.  They can overlap a bit, no biggie.  You definitely want coverage, though.  Sprinkle the strawberries with sugar.  All of it.  I’m serious.  Now pour the butter evenly over the strawberries.  (My mom used to use pineapple juice instead of butter here, mostly because she reserved the juice from the can.  It totally works here, and if you’re looking to cut back on unnecessary fat in your diet, I recommend it.  It’s quite yummy, still.  Promise.)

Here’s where I started mixing up the cake batter, and that turned out to be a really good thing because it gave the butter and sugar and strawberries to all kind of hang out and get to know each other.  You definitely want the sugar, butter, and strawberries to be good friends.  Trust you me.  You do.

Dump the batter on top.  Be a little bit more gentle than that since you don’t want the strawberries to get messed up.  Make sure the batter is spread evenly.  Then bake that cake according to box directions.  I think it’ll be around 30 minutes.  Don’t be silly, though.  Make sure it’s done.  Ovens vary like whoa.

Once it’s cooled for a bit, flip that baby out onto a plate.  It’s the most deliciousest thing ever.  No lie.