Strawberry Upside Down Skillet Cake

Want to make a cake, but aren’t so confident in your baking skills? You’ve got to try an upside-down cake. They’re quick, easy, and pretty much decorate themselves. Seriously, is there anything more beautiful than fresh fruit? Pineapple upside-down cake is the most classic, but you can pretty much put anything underneath cake batter, bake it, flip it, and have a stunner of a dessert. For this version, we kept it simple with strawberries, meaning you can make this for any occasion this summer. We love it for outdoor picnics, birthdays, BBQs, or even after a casual weeknight dinner. It'll make even the most humdrum of summer meals extra special.

Because this recipe is so simple, we’ve got a few tricks to make sure yours comes out perfectly. Firstly, make sure to prepare your pan (the liner doesn't have to be perfect!) and preheat your oven before you start making the batter. Then, make sure to cool your melted butter before you add it to your egg, sugar, and sour cream mixture (if it’s too hot, it may start to cook the eggs, and you definitely don’t want that). It can be a little tricky getting the batter to smooth over the strawberries, so wet your hands or a spatula to help spread it. Finally, let that cake cool. It will be very tempting to flip it early, but trust us—good things come to those who wait.

A note on pan size: Though they may look very similar in size, the volume of a 12 inch skillet can be nearly one and a half times bigger than a 10 inch skillet. We recommend using the suggested skillet size, just to be safe. You could use a 12-inch round cake pan, and simply follow the same directions. If you did want to use a square pan, a 9x13 should do the trick, but since all pans vary in depth, you may have different results.

Top this cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or homemade whipped cream for best results. 😋

.Made this? Let us know how it went in the comments below.

Editor's Note: This recipe was updated on August 1, 2022.