Caramel-Apple Upside-Down Cake Recipe

image source: cookingclub.com

Fall is finally setting in, and that means one thing to me….baking!! I love to bake and keep the house smelling yummy, and feeling warm when its cold outside. I also love shopping, and when I was at a recent grocery store trip, I spied this book by the register. Yes, I am an impulse buyer!! It is a Betty Crocker fall baking cookbook. You know, those little ones w/ about 75 or so pages for around $4.99?? Well, I picked it up and thumbed through it, and as soon as I saw the recipe for the tiramisu cheesecake bars, that book ended up in my cart pronto!

Last weekend I was shuffling through the book and came across the recipe for this caramel-apple upside-down cake, and it just so happened I had most of the ingredients! I appologize in advance for the crummy picture, my camera is on the fritz, so I had to rely on my camera phone. This cake is super easy to make, and is very good. It just screams fall!!

Topping:

1/4 cup butter or margarine

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 medium apples, peeled, and cut into 1/2 inch wedges

Cake:

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup milk

1. Heat oven to 325 and spray bottom and sides of an 8 or 9″ square pan. In a 1 qt saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar. Heat to boiling; remove from heat. Stir in 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Spread evenly in pan (this for some reason wasn’t that easy for me. The sugar was beginning to thicken and move all over the sprayed pan!) Arrange apples over brown sugar mixture, overlapping tightly and making 2 layers if needed.

2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and the salt. In a large bowl, beat 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup butter w/ an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, until smooth. Add vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating until smooth. Spread batter over apples (no easy task either, the batter is thick, and the apples slid around while I was spreading, but it all worked out!)

3. Bake 55-65 mins or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Place a heatproof serving plate upside down over pan; turn plate and pan over. Remove pan.