Christmas Notebook

This is SO good! I wanted to make something this afternoon, then decided not to. Then DS#2 called to say he was running by this evening after taking DDIL to meet her family for the weekend. So DD and I sprang into action and made an apple upside down cake recipe that I found online. Also, poor son, you missed out. He called to say they were running late and he had decided to head home without dropping by. But it is so good, I will be making it again, and perhaps he can have some next time.

Apple Upside Down Cake

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups white, granulate sugar divided (1/2 cup and 3/4 cup)
1 1/2 pounds Braeburn, Jonagold, or Golden Delicious apples (about 4 medium), peeled, quartered, cored, each quarter cut into 2 wedges I used three Golden Delicious and one Fuji. Didn’t bother to weigh them.
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/3 cup whole milk
1-9-inch cake pan with 1 1/2-inch high sides

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter the sides of the cake pan. Line the pan with a 10-inch round of parchment paper. The paper will come up 1/2-inch up the sides of the pan. Butter the parchment paper. I used a tad of the stick of butter the recipe calls for to butter the pan and the parchment paper.

Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a non-stick skillet on medium heat. Add 1/2 cup sugar and cook until sugar dissolves and mixture turns golden brown, stirring occasionally (use a wooden spoon), about 6 minutes. The caramel got hard when I cooked it but softened after the apples were added. Don’t worry, if this happens. Just keep moving forward. I did read that not stirring the butter/sugar as it cooks will prevent this from happening. I’ll try that next time. It didn’t adversely affect the cake, though.

Add apple wedges to the pan and gently stir to distribute the caramel evenly across the apples. Cover the pan and cook until apples release their juices, about 5 minutes. You can see the hunks of hard caramel in there…

Uncover and cook until apples are tender and caramel thickens and coats the apples, stirring occasionally, about 13 minutes more. I turned the apples a few times, but mainly let them simmer on low heat.

Remove apples and caramel sauce and place in the prepared cake pan. My sauce wasn’t very thick, but it worked fine.

Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside. Place cornmeal in a large mixing bowl. Pour 1/2 cup boiling water over the cornmeal and stir to blend. Add 3/4 cup sugar and 6 Tbsps (3/4 stick) butter to the cornmeal mixture. Beat until well blended. Beat in vanilla and eggs. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder mixture alternating with the milk. Pour the batter over the apples in the cake pan. DD did all of this part for me, except pouring the boiling water over the cornmeal and pouring the batter over the apples. She was happy to lick the spoon and the bowl, too. 🙂 BTW, we just used the whisk and a wooden spoon…didn’t haul out the mixer.

Bake until top is golden and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool cake in the pan for 5 minutes. Then run a knife around the edges of the cake to loosen it from the sides of the pan.

Carefully invert the cake onto a serving plate or dish, and remove the parchment paper. Cool for 15 minutes.

Serves 8. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

The cake has a different sort of texture due to the cornmeal in the mix. Not bad, just different. And it is delicious. We’ll be making it again. 🙂

~~Rhonda