Blackberry Sage Upside Down Cake

BY Christina Ng
December 1, 2021

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Photography by Maria Hesse for Edible San Diego

Take sage to the sweet side with this berry good cake

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When it comes to sage advice in the kitchen, we often think of traditional poultry preparations, sauces, or gravies, but I’m here to share a few applications in the baking department for using one of the most aromatic and most delicious of all the herbs—sage. This perennial herb grows happily in San Diego, with many varieties found native to our region. Salvia apiana, also known as white sage or bee sage, grows in the hills behind my East County home, and I love using it as a secret ingredient in baking. Its grassy, herbaceous notes are a wonderful foil to tart fruit, balancing the sweetness just right in my recipe for a Blackberry Sage Upside-Down Cake.

Ingredients

Makes One 9-Inch Round Cake

Olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons olive oil, separated
6 tablespoons butter, melted
⅔ cup brown sugar
12 ounces fresh blackberries (1 pint)
1 ½ sticks butter, softened
⅔ cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sage, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup buttermilk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°.
Prepare a 9-inch round cake pan or 9-inch deep-dish pie plate by greasing it with olive oil. Add melted butter and brown sugar to the pan and stir to disperse. Add blackberries evenly to the bottom of the pan, and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light yellow in color and airy in texture. Feel free to do this by hand with a wooden spoon for about 5 to 6 minutes. If using a stand mixer, expect it to take 3 to 4 minutes.
Add your eggs 1 at a time to the creamed butter and sugar, making sure to mix well to combine before adding the next egg. Beat in olive oil and vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, chopped sage, and salt. Add ½ of the dry ingredient mixture to the liquid ingredients. Mix and then add in ½ of the buttermilk. Add the remainder of the dry ingredients, mix, and then add the remaining buttermilk.
Distribute batter into your pan over the berries, smoothing it across as even as possible. Bake the cake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a serving platter.

Christina Ng

A San Diego transplant by way of San Francisco, Christina Ng is a personal chef and food educator rooted in supporting local farms and California Growers at every meal served. A food science graduate of University of California, Davis, she has worked in various arenas of the food service industry, including grocery retail, catering, hospitality, and corporate kitchen positions. Today, she draws on all of those experiences to drive her events and classes across San Diego County. You can follow her work on Instagram at @chinitaspies.