Overflown with apples, yet can’t remember the best cake recipe? Let’s try this upside down apple cake from the top of the precipice!

Apples are great gift to humanity. Without them we would still be plucking fruits from branches or foraging for nuts and berries without as much as a loincloth.

Upside down cakes are -as their name implies- cakes with their upside down. Or at least they are, until baked and taken out of the oven.

Once the cake is ready for the springform to be removed, it’s turned over, so the topping gets to its right place, on the top of the cake. Generous amount of sugar is usually applied onto the baking pan before the topping is placed in which converts to caramelized sugar during baking, creating a tooth aching layer of sweetness that overwhelms anything placed above (or essentially under) it.

If we opt to skip on sugar -as those on sugar free diet do- we can achieve more diverse flavor development with a variety of fruit as opposed to plain sweet cakes with something squishy on top.

Pineapple upside down cakes are fan favorites for a reason, due to their sweet and sour flavors but if we can get the base right, then other fruit can be equally exciting or sometimes even more.

There is no rule about the batter we use to make an upside-down cake. As long as we place the fruit layers at the bottom and pour the batter over it, we are golden.

To make apple upside down cake, we can opt for a simple sponge cake batter, a more exciting pound cake batter or go all in and make even the batter filled with apple like it is the case with applesauce cake.

The key to apple upside down cakes -and in fact most desserts with apple- is the cinnamon, that should only be permitted to skip on rare occasions and only with written justification in hand.

We can take the game to the next level around Christmas and pour in all the typical spices and herbs that could overwhelm our senses around this time of the year. Nutmeg, ginger, cloves are all goes well with cinnamon, creating something worth longing for.

Of course, some/all of those can be skipped too if our soul is satisfied by fueling our Christmas spirit with gingerbread man’s only.

Hopefully, it will be enough and the Grinch won’t ruin our mood or cakes which could easily happen if it’s our first time making upside down cake. Especially if we opt for the more advanced level applesauce and baking soda variety.

It’s important to highlight the necessity of following the mixing order of the ingredients, since applesauce and baking soda are reactive items which results, we plan to use to raise our cakes.

If we don’t add one of them to the batter at the end and we aren’t fast enough to place the cake into the preheated oven, we end up with cakes that is worth remembering for reasons, we don’t like cakes to be remembered of.

Ingredients

Apple sauce

Applesauce muffins needs about 2 cups / 500g Applesauce. Check out how to make Applesuce.

1 lb / 500g Apple
½ cup / 125g Water
½ / 10g Lemon peel
1 tablespoon / 15ml Lemon juice
½ teaspoon / 2.5g Cinnamon
½ teaspoon / 2.5g Salt

Topping

3 medium / 600g Apple (peeled)
½ Lemon’s juice
1 teaspoon / 2g Cinnamon
2 tablespoons / 30g Butter

Applesauce cake

3 tablespoon / 50g Butter or vegetable oil
2 pieces / 110g Eggs
2 cups / 500g Applesauce
1 teaspoon / 5ml Vanilla
1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
2 teaspoon / 5g Cinnamon
2½ cup / 300g Flour
1 teaspoon / 7g Baking soda
Optional
1 teaspoon Ginger (ground)
½ teaspoon / 1.25g Nutmeg (ground)
¼ teaspoon / 1.25 Allspice (ground) (highly recommended)

Kitchen utensils

Ø8½” / Ø21cm Spring baking form

How to Make Upside-down Apple Cake

Apple sauce

For more detailed instructions check out: Applesauce Recipe

Peel, core and slice up the apples. Pour water into a pot then add the apples, lemon peel, lemon juice, cinnamon and salt.
Place a lid on, bring it to boil. Reduce heat and cook apples until soft, for about 5 minutes. Remove the lemon peel if desired then puree the apples with an immersion blender.

Topping

Peel and slice the apples. Drizzle half a lemon’s juice on top so the apples won’t brown.
Mix melted butter with cinnamon. Apples should be sweet enough but if additional sweetener is used, this is the time to add it. Sugar soaked traditional apple cakes use sugar instead of butter which caramelizes during the baking, rendering all apple flavor and sweetness. unrecognizable.
Spread melted butter with cinnamon on the bottom of the springform. Wait for a couple of minutes until it sets.
Place the apple slices on top of the butter. Don’t press down, just gently place.

Apple Cake

Melt butter or simply use vegetable oil. Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy.
Add the apple sauce and vanilla extract. Beat in salt, cinnamon and any optional ingredients like ginger, nutmeg and allspice. Allspice is highly recommended as it gives the cake a completely different character.
Add in the flour in batches then finally the baking soda. It’s important to mix the baking soda in evenly, but also as quickly as possible, about 1 -2 minutes top; since the baking soda and the acid in the applesauce reacts immediately their batter elevating properties lessen by the second.
Pour the batter into the springform on top of the apples. Make sure to be quick about it.
Place the batter into the middle rack of a 360°F / 180°C preheated oven until golden brown spots start to appear on top, about 30 minutes.
Let it cool off a bit then remove the springform from the side. If the cake has risen a bit too much, we won’t have a level cake that could ruin our apple topping design once turned over, so level the cake by cutting off the protruding part. Use the leftover for domino cake if necessary or just whip up some cream cheese topping for applesauce cake bites.
Place a big enough plate on top then turn the cake upside down. Remove the bottom of the springform carefully as some of the apple pieces may stick to it. Use a spatula to ensure smooth transition.