Cherry Upside-Down Cake

This is my first attempt at making upside-down cakes. I always had the opinion that upside down cakes are nothing but a plain cake with a fruit topping. But when I tasted a pineapple upside down cake recently, I was quite impressed with the moist pineapple flavor absorbed by the cake. I tried this cake using bing and rainier cherries, and it turned out so yummy that I couldn't resist from having more than 1 serving.

The recipe makes one 8" round cake.

Ingredients:

1. Cherries - 1 cup (pitted and cut into half pieces)
2. Unsalted Butter - 4 tablespoons (I used "I can't believe it's not butter")
3. Brown sugar - 1/2 cup (can be reduced if cherries are very sweet)
4. Granulated Sugar - 1/2 cup
5. All purpose flour/cake flour - 1 cup
6. Baking powder - 1 tsp
7. Salt - a pinch (less than 1/4 tsp)
8. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
9. Orange zest - 1 tsp

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Place butter in an 8" round baking pan, and warm it in oven until the butter melts completely.
3. Remove from oven, and sprinkle brown sugar evenly over the butter.
4. Layer the cherry halves, cut side down, all over the pan.
5. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt in a bowl.
6. Separate egg whites and yolks in two separate bowls.
7. Beat egg whites at high speed until they become fluffy. Set it aside.
8. Beat egg yolks with sugar, vanilla extract and orange zest at medium speed until creamy. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat until they are well mixed.
9. Add the egg whites to the above mix and fold it using a spatula.
10. Pour cake mixture evenly over the fruit layer in the pan, and smooth the surface.
11. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until cake is done (a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).
12. Cool it for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake. Invert carefully onto a plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Before turning upside down -

After turning upside down -