Cake #36 Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

This cake was floating around Pinterest and I had to take a crack at it. I LOVE upside down cakes. They're like a little bit of magic in your oven. Think about it, you make a very boring, sad looking cake, then.... ABRACADABRA... you flip it over and it's a thing of beauty.

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One word of warning about this cake:

The glaze/syrup/topping is so delicious you'll want to drink it, serve it on pancakes, pour it over ice cream - it's insane. It tastes like autumn, apples, caramel, fairs... it's a thing of beauty

And the cake soaks it up, transforming it into a crazy-delicious concoction.

And please excuse my pictures, the light was terrible and I didn't do the cake justice at all.

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

King Arthur Flour

TOPPING


2 medium apples
4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons boiled cider or thawed apple juice concentrate (we used apple juice concentrate)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup light corn syrup or golden syrup (we used Roger's Golden Syrup)

CAKE


3/4 cup vegetable oil (normally I'd use 1/2cup oil and 1/4 cup applesauce but I was out of applesauce)
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons boiled cider or thawed apple juice concentrate (we used the juice concentrate)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 large apple, peeled and finely chopped
3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional (we used pecans)

Directions


1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" round cake pan at least 2" deep. Line the bottom with parchment, and grease the parchment. (I only had a 10" deep enough so my cake is a bit shorter)
2) Slice the top, including the stem, off one of the apples and set it aside before peeling and slicing the rest of the apples into 1/4" thick wedges.
3) Place the apple top, stem side down, in the middle of the pan, and overlap the rest of the apple wedges in a ring around it.

4) Prepare the topping by heating the butter, sugar, boiled cider, cinnamon, and corn syrup together over low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.

5) Pour 1/2 cup of the syrup mixture into the prepared pan, and set the rest aside.
6) To make the cake: Beat the oil, brown sugar, boiled cider, eggs, spices, and salt together for 2 minutes at medium speed

7) Mix the flour with the baking soda, and stir it into the batter.

8) Add the chopped apple and nuts, and mix until just blended.

9) Drop scoops of the batter atop the apples in the pan, gently spreading to cover.

10) Bake the cake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean.
11) Remove the cake from the oven, and run a thin spatula around the edge to loosen.

12) Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a serving plate, bottom side up. Scrape out any sauce that remains in the pan, and spread it over the cake.

13) Reheat the reserved topping. If butter starts to separate as you reheat, add water by the teaspoon and stir until the butter rejoins the rest of the sauce.

14) Pour the sauce over the cake.

This took quite a bit of scooping to get it to stick to the cake. I think I warmed mine up too hot and subsequently too thin. It REALLY thickens as it cools and the cake absorbs massive amounts of the apple-caramel sauce. It's crazy good.

Serve cake warm or at room temperature, with whipped cream if desired.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

If you're looking for another fall cake but this one doesn't strike your fancy, check out my Cinnamon Chip Applesauce Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. It's fall-tastic!

P.S. Sorry about all the cake this week. I've been crafting assignments that I can't share yet and we're quickly burning weeks if I'm going to get all 52 Cakes baked in 2011. But have no fear, there are rumblings that we'll be doing 52 MORE Cakes in 2012.

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