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Backyard Citrus Upside-Down Cake

4.0

(35)

Photo of a lemon upsidedown cake.
Photo and Food Styling by Joseph De Leo

I call this a “backyard cake” because in Southern California, and Los Angeles in particular, so many of us have a lemon, orange, or tangerine tree in our backyards. Sometimes they’re in the front yard, or planted on the strip of land between the sidewalk and the curb, but you are never more than a block away from a citrus tree. The natural pectin in the citrus, combined with the sugar, creates a pudding-like upside-down layer that’s similar to a buttery marmalade.

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