Apple Upside Down Cake Recipe | The Best Recipe – Cooking with Thas

When it’s apple season we gotta make apple upside-down cake, the most scrumptious cake…

Every year in October I go apple picking, there are many orchards close to my house. I never get bored of picking fresh apples from the apple trees, such a joy I feel. Picked a huge basket full of apples, it was only $20. An apple a day keeps the doctor away, my hubs & I have been having more than one apple a day for sure.

We can make both sweet & savory dishes with apples. This time, I made an apple upside down cake with the freshly picked apples.

Sharing some pictures of apple picking…

I’ve baked a few upside-down cakes over the years with pineapple, cranberries & almonds. I used the same recipe, the cake is incredibly moist and soft, and just melts into your mouth.

10 mins

Cook time

55 mins

Total time

1 hour 5 mins

Author: Thasneen

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 9 wedges

Ingredients

For making topping

Butter, unsalted- 5 tbsp
Brown sugar- ⅔ cup
Apples sliced- 3 apples (use any sweet apples)
Fresh Cranberries or Cherries- 10, to fill the gaps (optional)
Ground cinnamon- ½ tsp (optional)

For making cake batter

Butter, unsalted at room temperature- ½ cup
White sugar- 1 cup
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
Eggs, large- 2 (separate yolk and egg whites)
All purpose flour- 1½ cups
Baking powder- 2 tsp
Salt- ¼ tsp
Milk- ½ cup
Lemon juice- ¼ tsp
Apples, minced- ¼ cup

Instructions

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 inch springform pan with butter- don't skip this step.
Since I've used springform pan, I covered the bottom of the pan with aluminum foil to catch any drippings that will leak through the bottom of the pan while baking.
It's good to use a sprinform pan for making this cake, that way we can remove the bottom part of the pan. In regular cake pans, the apples & the brown sugar-butter topping might get stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C.
Place a saucepan over medium heat, add 5 tbsp butter and let it melt.
Add brown sugar and cook till it dissolves and turns brown.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, pour the melted brown sugar into the cake pan and spread evenly.
Place sliced apples over the melted brown sugar/butter.
Sprinkle ground cinnamon over the apples.
Place cranberries or cherries in the gaps. Keep it aside.
Separate the egg yolks and egg whites from 2 eggs.
In a bowl, combine together the all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
Into the stand mixer bowl, add butter at room temperature and white sugar. Using the paddle attachment, beat till smooth.
Or you can use an electric hand mixer.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl using a rubber spatula, beat again.
Or use an electric hand mixer to beat butter and sugar.
Add the vanilla extract and beat for a minute.
Add egg yolks, beat till combined well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat again for a few seconds.
Add the flour mix in 3 addition alternately with the milk in 2 additions- ending with the flour mix. (First, add some flour mix, beat for a few seconds, add ¼ cup milk, beat again, add the 2nd addition of flour and beat for a few seconds, add the remaining ¼ cup milk, beat well and finally add the remaining flour mix and beat till incorporated).
Keep aside the cake batter.
Add egg whites to a clean stand mixer bowl & add lemon juice; place the whisk attachment.
Beat the egg whites and lemon juice at high speed till soft peaks are formed.
Or you can use an electric hand mixer.
Fold the beaten egg whites into the prepared cake batter, combine well till egg whites are well incorporated into the batter.
Add ¼ cup minced apples, this is optional. If adding, chop the apples really small. Combine well.
Pour the cake batter over the apples and smoothen the top.
Place the cake pan onto the middle rack in the preheated oven.
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or till a fork inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (depends on the kind of oven you are using, baking time might be longer-bake till the center of the cake has cooked well).
Let cool down for a few minutes.
Run a knife through the sides of the cake pan, cover the pan with a large plate or cake stand & flip over.
Remove the bottom part of the springform pan & the sides.
The top part of the cake will have the caramelized apples in a delicious buttery brown sugar sauce.
This cake tastes better when served warm. So, go ahead cut into wedges and serve along with a cup of coffee.
Leftover cake can be refrigerated, before serving- warm up the cake slices in the microwave for 30 seconds and enjoy.