Chocolate Upside-Down Cake

Christmas 2021. Nochebuena. The real thing. The complete thing. The table that the pandemic emptied and that this year is full — fuller than it has been since 2019, fuller than any Christmas in this house's history.

The table: me, Eduardo, Mami, Sofía, Miguel Jr., Jenny, Lucas (wearing a Santa hat, vibrating with anticipation), Isabella (seventeen months, alert, observing), Rosa and Carlos and Camila (seven weeks, asleep in the arms of whoever was not currently eating, which was usually Carlos because Carlos has learned that the function of the groom's father at a Delgado Christmas is to hold the baby and eat one-handed and say nothing). David and James, from Brooklyn, arriving by train on Tuesday with gifts and a chocolate tart that James baked and that was — I will say this — delicious, and the delicious was James's contribution and the contribution was accepted and the accepting was the full integration of James into this family's Christmas, not as a guest but as a cook, which in this family is the same as family.

Ana from Bridgeport. Fifteen people. The table seats twelve. Three extra chairs from the neighbors. The extra chairs are back. All of them. The full complement. The pandemic is not over — it may never be fully over, the virus mutating and returning like a persistent relative — but the table is over the pandemic, the table has decided that life continues and the continuing is done at full volume, in two languages, with pernil and pasteles and coquito and the noise, the blessed noise, the noise of fifteen people eating together at midnight, the noise that Mami recognizes even when she does not recognize everything, the noise that is the song of this family, the frequency at which Delgados operate, the volume that says: we are here. We survived. We eat. We keep going.

At midnight I carved the pernil. The skin crackled. David stood beside me and handed me the carving knife and I looked at him and he looked at me and the look said everything: from this kitchen to his kitchen, from my pernil to his mofongo, from Bayamón to Brooklyn, the chain is unbroken and the chain is long and the chain holds. Wepa.

James showed up with that tart and the table accepted it, which means the table accepted him — and that is how it works in this family, you cook and you are in. I keep thinking about that moment, the way a single dish can say what words cannot, and I wanted to share something in that same spirit: a chocolate dessert that is a little dramatic, a little generous, the kind of thing you bring to a table and everyone turns to look. This Chocolate Upside-Down Cake is that dessert. It inverts — what starts on the bottom becomes the top — and there is something right about that for a year like 2021, a year when everything flipped and we still came out with something sweet.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

For the topping (pan base):
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
For the cake batter:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan thoroughly with butter or nonstick spray.
Make the topping layer. In a small bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, and 1/3 cup cocoa powder until smooth. Pour and spread evenly across the bottom of the prepared pan. Scatter the chopped nuts and chocolate chips over the top of this mixture.
Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and sour cream until smooth and fully combined.
Combine the batter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until no dry streaks remain — do not overmix. The batter will be thick.
Assemble and bake. Spoon the cake batter gently over the topping layer in the pan and spread carefully with an offset spatula so the topping layer is not disturbed. Bake for 42 to 46 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake portion comes out clean.
Cool and invert. Let the cake cool in the pan for exactly 10 minutes — no more, or the topping will set and stick. Run a knife around the edges, place a large rimmed serving platter or sheet pan over the top, and invert in one confident motion. Lift the pan away slowly. The fudgy topping will now be on top, pooling over the edges of the cake. Let cool another 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chocolate Upside-Down Cake — The Tart That Made James Family