Apple Upside Down Cake
This caramel apple upside-down cake is just irresistible – both for the eyes and your taste buds. It may look complicated but it’s easy to make and not so heavy on sugar, rather refreshing.
In short – it may be the perfect apple dessert!
It’s perfect with a cup of coffee or tea anytime you want to relax and indulge in something sweet and refreshing.
This recipe uses simple ingredients you probably already have at hand. Let’s see what we need.
🍎 Ingredients For This Apple Cake
- Apples – use good baking apples like Jonathan, Gala or Golden.
- Flour – cake flour or regular flour will do the job
- Sugar – for caramel and cake
- Baking powder– just a little to fluff the cake
- Eggs – for the cake batter
- Butter – just a little to enrich flavor
- Raisins, walnuts and or fruit jam
- Cinnamon, vanilla extract, orange or lemon zest
🍰 How To Make This Apple Upside-Down Cake
1. Make the caramel
First, put the raisins in warm water to hydrate and plump.
In a round cooking pan melt the sugar on medium-low heat (use a sturdy pan, not a detachable cake pan to make sure none of the caramel pours out in the oven). Stir often and make sure it does not burn.
When it’s almost completely melted and reaches the proper color add the butter and stir again to emulsify it into a caramel sauce for 1 minute or so.
Turn off the flame and turn & move the pan in order to coat its interior with the caramel sauce as much as you can. Move quickly as the caramel will harden rapidly.
2. Prep the apples
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Peel and core the apples and place them into the pan as you see in the picture below. Drain the raisins and finely chop the walnuts.
Carefully drop raisins, walnuts and/or fruit jam (optional) filling the core of the apples. Bake for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the cake sponge.
3. Make the cake batter
10 minutes before taking out the apples, start making the sponge cake.
Beat the egg whites with a little salt until stiff peaks. Add the sugar in batches and mix until it dissolves.
Add the egg yolks, vanilla extract, orange zest and mix a little more to blend well everything. Incorporate the flour and baking powder in batches, folding it in with delicate moves using a rubber spatula or a hand whisk.
Take out the pan from the oven and sprinkle the cinnamon over the apples. Then pour the cake batter over the apples and level it up with a spatula.
4. Bake and invert
Turn back the pan in the oven for another 30 minutes or until the cake looks cooked and a toothpick comes out clean.
When it’s done, take it out from the oven and let it cool about 5 minutes. Run the spatula around the inside rim of the pan to make sure no part of the cake will stick.
Take a large plate or platter, cover the pan and with a quick move invert the pan allowing the apple cake to slowly slide onto the plate. Carefully remove the pan and let it cool completely.
🍽️ Serving & Preserving
You can cover this caramel upside down apple cake in whipped cream or serve as it is. Or you can top it with whipped cream upon individual servings.
Keep any leftovers covered in the fridge for about 3-4 days. Mine never lasts that long. I absolutely LOVE to enjoy it next to a cup of coffee, in a beautiful sunny day.
I hope you too. 🙂
More dessert recipes:
- Apple Eclair Cake (no bake dessert)
- Orange Marble Cake (intense orange flavor)
- Old Fashioned Rice Pudding (my childhood favorite)
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Apple Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
for the caramel
- 1/2 cup (100gr) sugar
- 3 tbsp (40gr) butter
for the apple filling
- 6-8 apples
- 2 tbsp (50gr) raisins
- 2 tbsp (50gr) walnuts + fruit jam (optional)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
for the sponge cake
- 1/2 cup (100gr) sugar
- 5 eggs
- 3/4 cup (110gr) flour
- 1 tsp orange (or lemon) zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- one pinch baking powder
- one pinch salt
- whipping cream to decorate (optional)
Instructions
- Plump the raisins in warm water (and rum extract if you like).Important!: Do NOT use a usual bottom detachable cake pan as caramel can drip down into the oven.Make the caramel into a round sturdy pan on low - medium flame and add butter to finish. Coat the walls of the pan as well as you can. Prepare the apples: peel them and discard their core. Place them one by one into the pan making sure they stand well one next to each other. Drain the raisin water and fill the apples with raisins and chopped walnuts. Add a little fruit jam as well if you prefer. Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes.
- 10 minutes before taking out the apples, start making the sponge batter. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until really fluffy. Start adding the sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the yolks, vanilla extract and the orange zest. Mix a little more to blend everything together.Mix the baking powder and flour and start adding it in batches into the batter with a hand mixer, folding it in slowly. Take out the apples from the oven and sprinkle the cinnamon over them. Then pour over the batter. Level with a spatula and turn back to the oven for another 1/2 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let it cool for 5 minutes. Take a silicone spatula and go around the inside rim to ensure the cake does not stick to the pan. Place a large platter over the pan and with a quick move reverse it. Carefully remove the baking pan and let the apple cake cool completely.Serve with ice cream and /or whipped cream on top for the most delicious apple treat ever.
