There will be cake

 Aside from occasionally asking my mom to drive the 9 blocks to my house to pick me up and bring me back to her house, I tend to prefer not to ask too many favors. This policy is impractical when applying to medical school. I have asked for letters of evaluation. I have asked for input on secondary essays. I have asked for friends to remind me of what I was doing in college (I'm getting older, OK?). I have even had to ask multiple former employers and co-workers for permission to include their name and contact information on my application in case one or more of the twenty one medical schools to which I have applied doubts the veracity of my "Work/Activities" section and decides to seek confirmation. One such former co-worker, while willing to act as a reference if called upon, suggested that it might be befitting for us to reunite after the years that have passed since we were colleagues. This seemed only fair. We picked a place to convene, and I embarked on preparing a thank you cake. 

Summer Fruit Thank You Cake

adapted from Bon Apetit magazine

Upside down part

- 1 large peach or 2 small peaches, sliced into 1/2 inch thick segments

- 1 medium sized pluot or plum, sliced into 1/2 inch thick segments

- 1 cup sugar (recipe called for brown, but I ran out and (successfully) used a combination of white and brown)

- 1 tbsp honey

- 6 tbsp butter

Cake part

- 6 tbsp butter

- 1 cup sugar

- 2 eggs

- 1 tsp vanilla

- splash almond extract (more or less, but probably not exceeding 1/2 tsp)

- 1/2 cup milk

- 1 1/2 cups AP flour

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp cinnamon

- pinch o' salt

Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Grease an 8 or 9 inch diameter cake pan. 

In a medium saucepan, mix the butter, sugar and honey from the upside down part. Warm over medium heat until melted together into a smooth mixture. Pour melty delight into the bottom of the cake pan. Arrange fruit on top in a nice pattern, or however you like. Set aside.

Combine the flour, bp, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl (or 2 cup measure, if you're concerned about wasting water washing dishes/lazy like me). Cream together butter and sugar (I recommend a stand mixer, but by hand is fine) until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Mix in the extracts. 

Pour in the dry mixture alternating with the milk in three sections combining the ingredients after each addition. The final addition should be the last bit of milk. Give one final stir to make sure the batter is all combined, then pour over the fruit pieces in the cake pan. Bake in oven for 45-60 min. 

When you remove the cake, let it sit in the pan for 20 minutes (original recipe said 30, but who has that kind of patience). Place the serving dish over the top of the cake pan and invert the pan onto the platter. Before lifting off the pan, leave it upside down on the platter for 5 minutes. SERIOUSLY, DO THIS. Last but not least, gently lift the cake pan off the cake and voila.