Cake is awesome. The house always smells so good, and cake always makes people happy. 

When was the last time you made upside down cake? Never? Is it because people always associate it with pineapple upside down cake and that cake is tired out? Probably. Are we still in the mid 1930’s? Heck no, it’s 20 friggen 18 my friends. Time for you to retire pineapple, there’s a new topsy turvy fruit in the oven. A touch of old fashion comfort with a twist of “Wow, I didn’t know upside down cake was still a thing and could be this delicious and modern, is there an emoji for this?”

Apples are everywhere right now, and it’s a nice change from apple crisp. The apples should be slice pretty thin, and you can arrange them however you think looks best. I arranged mine in a fan because that’s what I thought looked nice and made room for lots of apples. 

Does anyone else get SUPER overwhelmed when shopping for apples? I think it might just be me, but there’s so many different types of apples with weird names, transparent, galas, pink lady…like c’mon what was wrong with “green” “red” “rosé apple”.  As I’m not an apple expert, I have no idea if I bought the right apple. I bought red delicious because I love how pretty and shiny and red they are. They look like that traditional teacher’s desk apple. Use whatever apple you like. I would not suggest any of those green sour ones though…granny smith I think they’re called? Yea, I think you wanna stick with a bit of a sweeter, more tender apple.

This cake is easy. It starts off by making a simple caramel, pouring it into the cake pan, arranging the apples on top and pouring the cake batter over the whole thing. You can shake it up and do salted caramel by adding a sprinkle of sea salt to the top of the cake once you’ve flipped it out. 

Aloha goodbye pineapple, time to get cozy with our favourite fall and winter fruit! 

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

For the caramel apples: 

• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 Tbsp. Butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of cinnamon (to taste)
• Pinch of kosher salt
• 1-2 apples, sliced thin

For the cake:

• 1 3/4 cup flour 
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon (or more, to taste)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup softened butter 
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 fht and grease an 9” round cake pan with cooking spray. In a small pot over medium heat, melt brown sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Cook until slightly thickened, 2 minutes.

Pour caramel sauce into prepared pan and layer slices of apples on top. 

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. 

In another large bowl, beat together butter and sugars until softened. Add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. Add half the dry ingredients to wet ingredients, beating until just combined. Pour in milk and mix until fully. Add remaining dry ingredients and stir until just combined. 

Pour batter over apples and bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, around 1 hour. Let cool in pan for about 15 minutes then invert onto a plate and let finish cooling before slicing.

Saluti!