Blueberry Upside Down Breakfast Cake

 
(Hey!  This picture is totally not representative.  I'm going to fix it asap.  Your fruit will sit on top like a traditional upside down cake.)

On our first day of vacation, early in the day, before I had bought groceries, or even finished my first cup of coffee, I foraged through our borrowed kitchen looking for something I could whip up for breakfast.  There were some basics.  I found cornmeal and a small sack of flour and some baking powder that expired in 1993.  Delving deeper I found a relatively fresh canister that was somewhat more reasonably dated 2008.  This could get us cornbread.

But I also had a beautiful pint of blueberries that had joined us somewhere along the journey.  And I had a feeling that those berries could turn that simple cornbread into vacation breakfast - an easy to prepare treat worthy of a sunny porch and cool salty air and freedom from responsibility (and a really good cup of coffee). 

Blueberry Upside Down Breakfast Cake

• 2 cups blueberries or mixed berries
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons non-dairy butter
• 1 tablespoon flax meal
  
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 cup, minus 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose if you don't have it)
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup unbleached sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup canola oil (or other mild cooking oil)

1. Cream together butter and sugar and spread evenly over the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan.
2. Arrange berries over butter and sugar.
3. In a small bowl, mix together flax meal and water.  Set aside to thicken. 
4. Place lemon juice and zest into a glass measuring cup.  Add soy milk to make 1 cup.  This lemony soy milk will curdle and thicken.  Leave it to do its thing, but stir before adding to the dry ingredients. 
5. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 400.  
6. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
7. Make a well in the center and add the flax mixture, oil, and lemony milk.
8. Stir to combine. 
9. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, and the top is a rich golden hue with cracked edges.  
10. Immediately invert onto a plate before cooling.