upside-down cake

American  

noun

1. a cake that is baked on a layer of fruit, then turned before serving so that the fruit is on top.

---

upside-down cake British  

noun

1. a sponge cake baked with sliced fruit at the bottom, then inverted before serving

---

Etymology

Origin of upside-down cake

An Americanism dating back to 1920–25

Example Sentences

The pineapple upside-down cake went viral long before social media.

From Salon • Mar. 16, 2023

Ready to make an upside-down cake with your own combination of fruit and caramel?

From Salon • Mar. 16, 2023

I’d get the pineapple upside-down cake, the bread pudding and the lemon iced pound cake.

From Washington Post • Nov. 14, 2022

Instead of traditional pineapple upside-down cake, try this playful riff on the standard with yogurt company siggi’s Icelandic yogurt pear upside-down cake.

From Fox News • Dec. 24, 2021

“Usually I can tell as soon as I meet someone. Like, Amy’s mom there is a pineapple upside-down cake, and her dad is a sour cream coffee cake with a crumbly blueberry center.”

From "A Tangle of Knots" by Lisa Graff