From the Kitchen of WoodmenLife EVP & CRO Shawn Bengtson: Peach Upside-Down Cake

WoodmenLife is committed to supporting your family. So we thought it would be nice to get to know each other better by sharing a little from the WoodmenLife family. Here, Executive Vice President & Chief Risk Officer Shawn Bengtson shares a family recipe and the memories that make it so special. Hopefully when you make it, you can create special family memories of your own.

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My mother was the cook of the house. She was born and grew up outside of Corpus Christi, TX — as a Southern woman, she learned her way around the kitchen pretty early. It was marrying a military man that ultimately brought the family to the Omaha, NE, area.

She and I have always shared a love for the same types of food: from tacos and burgers to Sunday brisket and potatoes with greens or squash and tomatoes. We also enjoy the sweet things like ice cream, watermelon, and warm baked goods, like peach upside-down cake.

The cake recipe here is good for griddle cakes, as well as cake for any occasion. If you want to experiment — and I have done so — be sure to try a pineapple version. If you want an off-season reminder of your fresh fruit, slice up your ripe fruit during its season, put it in the freezer and defrost to be the recipe’s featured fruit. It’s always great to have nectarines in the freezer for a mid-winter reflection of its previous season.

Peach Upside-Down Cake

Filling:

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 can sliced peaches, drained (save the juice)

In a 10” cast iron skillet, melt the butter. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter. Arrange drained, sliced peaches in an attractive pattern on the butter-sugar coating.

Cake batter:

2 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

6 Tbsp. canned peach juice

1 tsp. lemon juice/flavoring

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup sifted flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Beat eggs until thick and lemon colored (5 minutes). Gradually beat in the sugar. Beat in the peach juice, lemon juice/flavoring, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix dry mixture in with wet mixture.

Pour batter over fruit in the skillet. Bake at 350 degrees for up to 45 minutes or until a toothpick is clean when poked into the middle of the cake. Immediately turn upside down on a serving plate. Do not remove the pan for a few minutes.

Best if served warm — plain or with whipped cream.

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