Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
skillet cake

skillet cake

6.3
A cake baked in a pan over sweet fruit then flipped so the fruit is on top
  • noun
  • US
translation icon : pastel de sartén
  • He surprised his friends with a homemade skillet cake filled with cherries.

Examples

  • For dessert, I made a skillet cake using ripe strawberries and whipped cream.

  • She baked a delicious skillet cake topped with fresh peaches.

  • I am making your apple skillet cake and your pumpkin pie bars.

    Blog text (4)

Synonyms

cake
vsskillet cake
850 1.0

A sweet baked food made from flour, sugar, eggs, and fat

focuses on baking fruit under batter and inverting, not general sweet bakes
upside-down cake
vsskillet cake
3 2.6

A cake you bake with fruit on the bottom then flip so it sits on top

is the same process but cooked specifically in a shallow metal pan

Surface Forms

skillet cake singular
skillet cakes plural

Morphology

skillet + cake

The compound is fully compositional: 'skillet' (a cooking pan) modifies 'cake' (a baked sweet), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it is a cake made in a skillet. Specific recipe details (fruit layer and inversion) are culinary particulars that may not be deduced, but the core meaning is transparent and follows a common noun+noun modification pattern.

Etymology

Skillet cake gives a clear picture of a skillet and a cake because the batter is baked in a pan on top of fruit and then flipped so the fruit becomes the topping. That's why it means 'a cake made and served from a skillet'.