Ginger Longan Upside Down Cake

Delicious ginger longan upside down cake, topped with juicy mandarin orange slices. Perfect for the Chinese New Year season, and gluten free too! This cake wasn't made intentionally for Chinese New Year but my mum told me the flavours were rather suitable and suggested I topped it with mandarin oranges (:

I made this using buckwheat flour. The first time I baked it, it was very dense and heavy. I suspected it might have been the greek yogurt so I replaced a portion of the yogurt with coconut oil and voila — a perfect cake. I also took extra special care to beat the egg whites separately and sift the dry ingredients. 

Although the longans are only at the top of the cake (or rather the bottom) the juice kinds of diffuses through the cake and gives the entire cake a longan taste. 

What you'll need

3/4 cups buckwheat flour

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/8 cup maple syrup

1 egg yolk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

2 egg white

1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar/citrus fruit juice

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 cups longans 

How to 

1. Pit the longans. Grease and line a 5-6 inch round cake tin. 

2. Sift first 3 ingredients together into a bowl. 

3. Mix greek yogurt, coconut oil, maple syrup, egg yolk and vanilla extract together. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and combine well.

Preheat the oven to 180C

3. Beat egg whites and apple cider vinegar until frothy. Gradually pour in the maple syrup and continue beating until soft peaks, or mid way between soft and stiff. 

4. Fold half the egg whites into the first batter. Then gently fold in the other half until the mixture is one even colour.

5. Evenly distribute pitted longans across the bottom of the cake tin. Pour batter over. Tap in the counter top a few times to get the air bubbles out. 

6. Bake for about 50min. Cool slightly before turning out on to a plate. Cut off the rounded top (or rather bottom) of the cake and then flip it onto another plate so it is now upside down and the longans are on top of the cake. 

Remember to serve topped with some mandarin oranges :-))