Sourdough Brioche Upside Down Cake, Soft and Juicy 🍓

This sourdough brioche upside down cake is one of those recipes that, once you learn it, stays with you forever 🤗 A soft, fluffy brioche dough, made with sourdough only, that bakes on top of the fruit and then gets flipped. When you turn it out, the berries end up on top, caramelized and glossy.

It’s an upside down cake from the same family as the tarte Tatin, but with brioche dough instead of pastry. We make it with frozen mixed berries, which you can find all year round, and in the fall also with apples 🍎 It’s a big cake, with 6 generous slices, for breakfast, an afternoon treat or to surprise someone without any fuss.

The only thing you need ready before you start is your sourdough starter, active and at its peak. The rest is a little work and a lot of resting: the dough does almost everything on its own. And then comes the moment you flip it, which is the most exciting part of the recipe 😍

How We Make It at Home, Step by Step

Your Sourdough Starter, Active and at Its Peak

For this cake you need 100 g (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp) of active sourdough starter at its peak, at 100% hydration, meaning it’s fed with equal weights of flour and water. At its peak means at the highest point of its rise after feeding: it has doubled in volume, it’s full of bubbles and it smells mildly sour, a bit like yogurt.

Timing matters more here than in a regular loaf. A sourdough brioche has sugar, egg and butter, and all of them slow the starter down. If you use it tired or straight out of the fridge, the rise takes much longer and the crumb comes out denser.

Don’t have a starter yet? Start with our guide to making a sourdough starter from scratch: in a few days you’ll have one ready.

How to Get the 100 g You Need

If you keep your starter in the fridge, feed it a few hours before you start: 20 g of starter, 50 g of flour and 50 g of water at room temperature. Mix, cover loosely and leave it at room temperature until it peaks: about 4 to 5 hours in a warm kitchen (24-26 °C / 75-79 °F), 6 to 8 in a mild one (20-22 °C / 68-72 °F) and 10 to 12 if it’s cold.

That gives you 120 g: use 100 g for the cake and keep the rest in the fridge for next time. It’s the same ratio we use for our easy sourdough bread, where we explain in more detail how to tell it’s ready.

Tips for a Soft Sourdough Brioche Upside Down Cake

Add the Butter After the Rest

First we mix everything except the butter and let the dough rest for 20 minutes. That way the gluten starts forming before the fat arrives and gets in its way. Then we add the soft butter in small additions, without adding the next one until the previous one has disappeared.

At first it looks like the dough is tearing and sliding around. That’s normal: keep kneading and it comes back together. It’s ready when it’s smooth and elastic. You can do it by hand or with a stand mixer, and it’s the same technique we use in our sourdough milk bread, another soft, enriched dough.

Oil on the Counter, Never Flour

When you turn the dough out onto the counter to shape it, grease the surface with a thin layer of neutral oil. Flour that sticks to the dough changes the texture of the brioche and makes it less tender. With oil, it’s easy to handle and doesn’t stick.

A Tight Ball Before Shaping the Disc

Before pressing the dough into a disc, we shape a tight ball. It’s an important step: it gives the brioche a smoother surface and a better rise in the oven. We show you two ways, and both work:

• Like a snail. Stretch the dough into a rectangle, fold the sides into the center and roll it up.
• By the corners. Fold the four corners into the center, flip the dough over and tighten it with your hands until you have a smooth ball.

Covered, but With Nothing Touching the Dough

During the second rise, the disc needs to be covered so it doesn’t dry out, but with nothing touching it. Plastic wrap sticks to the dough and deflates it when you pull it off. The easiest way is to set a large bowl upside down over it.

Go by the Dough, Not the Clock

In our kitchen, at 22-24 °C (72-75 °F), the first rise takes about 2 hours. In a colder kitchen it can take up to 4. The dough has the final word: it’s ready when it has grown by about 50%. In the second rise, the disc takes 1½ to 2 hours to look nicely puffed and airy.

The Fruit: Berries or Apples

We use frozen mixed berries, straight from the freezer, no thawing. You can find them all year round, they cost less than fresh ones and they give the cake that beautiful color.

Every ingredient in the fruit layer has a job:

• The butter on the bottom helps the fruit caramelize and gives the cake that glossy layer on top once you flip it.
• The starch, potato starch or cornstarch, thickens the juice the fruit releases as it bakes. Without it, the juice stays runny and soaks the crumb; with it, it turns into a jammy layer that stays on top.
• The sugar: we use 40 g (3 tbsp), just enough for the fruit to caramelize. If your berries are very tart, you can go up to 60 g (5 tbsp).
• A few drops of lemon brighten the flavor of the fruit.

Mix the sugar with the starch before sprinkling it over the fruit. That way the starch spreads evenly and doesn’t clump.

Apple Upside Down Cake Version

In the fall we also make it as an apple upside down cake, and it’s gorgeous 🍎 Use the same amount, 350 g (12 oz), of apple, peeled and cut into small cubes. We like Golden Delicious, but any sweet variety works. The rest of the fruit layer is the same: butter on the bottom, sugar mixed with starch on top and a few drops of lemon.

With apples you don’t need the powdered sugar at the end: the fruit already comes out golden and glossy.

The Pan and the Baking

We use a 20-22 cm (8-9 in) springform pan, lined with parchment paper on the bottom and sides. The paper does two things: it stops the fruit juice from leaking through the seam of the pan, and it helps the cake come out whole and clean when you flip it.

Even so, berries release quite a lot of juice. That’s why we put a sheet of foil under the pan: if anything drips, it lands on the foil and not in your oven.

We bake it at 180 °C (350 °F), conventional bake with top and bottom heat, on the middle rack, for 30 to 40 minutes. It’s ready when the dough is nicely golden on top. That golden top is the base of the cake: once you flip it, it ends up on the bottom.

Flipping It: The Most Exciting Moment

Do it as soon as it comes out of the oven. While it’s hot, the fruit and the caramel are still runny and release on their own, and they end up on top, glossy and juicy. If you wait for it to cool, the caramel sets and sticks to the paper.

• Put on oven mitts and grab a plate slightly bigger than the pan.
• Set the plate upside down on top of the pan, hold them firmly together and flip them in one confident move.
• Open the springform ring, lift off the base and carefully peel off the parchment paper.

If some fruit sticks to the paper, lift it off with a spoon and put it back in place; nobody will notice. With berries, we like to finish it with a dusting of powdered sugar just before serving ✨

How to Store Sourdough Brioche Upside Down Cake

Keep it covered in the fridge, and it lasts up to 4 days. With the fruit and its juice on top, the fridge is the best place for it.

When you take it out, you can warm your slice briefly in the microwave: the crumb turns soft again and the fruit juicy, just like freshly baked 😋

Sourdough Brioche Upside Down Cake FAQ

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