This month Cooking Light featured apple recipes. Well, I can tell that I was a happy person. For the last month I have received a huge bag of apples in my CSA box and there is just so many that I can eat for lunch or a snack. This Apple Upside- Down Cake caught my eye for more reasons than one. A one layer cake is great for serving to four people. Then you have no leftovers to eat when your company leaves. Remember I still have five pounds to get rid of. It is a gorgeous cake! It is a light cake with a lot of flavor. And it is pretty easy to make.
Here’s the step by step:
Prepare the topping which is sugar and water in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until the sugar dissolves about 3 minutes. Continue to cook until golden for 4 minutes. Do not stir. Here’s where I got impatient. After 6 minutes I took mine off the heat. Be patient and wait until it turns a golden color. It will not hurt the flavor, but the color will not be as beautiful. Immediately pour the sauce in a greased round cake pan. I used parchment paper in the bottom of mine.
You need three cups of baking apples such as Pink Lady, Rome, Honeycrisp, or Spartan 1/4 in. thick slices that have been peeled. Arrange them in a concentric circles in the pan over the warm caramel. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup walnuts.
Combine the sugar and butter in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and vanilla.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to sugar mixture beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix after each addition.
Place egg whites is a clean bowl. Do not use a plastic bowl. It will hold grease and your egg whites will not beat. Beat egg whites at high speed until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold egg whites into batter. Spread batter over apples and bake 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Loosen edges of cake with a knife and invert onto a serving plate.
Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream.
Apple Upside-Down Cake from Cooking Light
Topping
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 cups (1/4 inch-thick) slices peeled Rome apples ( about 2 large)
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Cake:
- 1 1/3 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoon butter, softened
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
- 3 large egg whites
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. coat a 9 inch round cake pan with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
- Prepare topping. combine 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup of water in a small heavy saucepan over medium-high heat: cook until sugar dissolves, stirring gently as needed to dissolve sugar evenly ( about 3 minutes). Continue cooking for 4 or more minutes or until golden (do not stir). Immediately pour into prepared cake pan,tipping quickly to coat bottom of pan. Arrange apple slices in concentric circles in pan over the warm caramel. Sprinkle with nuts: set aside.
- To prepare cake combine flour, baking powder, and salt: stir with a whisk.
- Combine 2/3 cup of sugar and butter in a large bowl: beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and vanilla to sugar mixture: beat until combines. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture: mix after each addition.
- Place egg whites in a large, clean bowl. Beat egg whites with mixer at a high speed until stiff peaks form using clean, dry beaters. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Spread batter over apples. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack int pan for 5 minutes. Loosen edges of cake with a knife: invert cake onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature. Dollop with whipped cream.
Yield 6 generous servings or 10 small servings
Happy Cooking,
The Teacher Cooks
The Teacher Cooks 
This cake looks really good. I didn’t know that plastic bowls would hold grease and prevent the egg whites from beating.
If you beat your eggs in a plastic bowl, they will not beat because the bowl will hold grease.
This dish looks AMAZINGLY delicious. I’m in love with apples and i’m definatley gonna go home and make it! I learned that you should always be patient when cooking and let the food cook as long as it needs too.
I never knew Pink Lady, Rome, Honeycrisp, and Spartan were a type of apple.
it needs to be served at a warm or room temperature
I never knew that Pink Lady, Rome, Honeycrisp, and Spartan were types of apples.
can you add something other than apples
the cake looks really delicious! I didn’t know there were specific apples for baking.
You always hear about a pineapple upside down cake. I’ve never heard of an apple one! It sounds delicious!
Didn’t relize you could make an apple cake that would be so healthy i am definitely going to try it one day on my own.
I learned that you should be patient when waiting for the apples to heat, Even though it won’t hurt the flavor, it won’t look as pretty!
I learned that you should let things cook all the way though!
I didn’t know that using a plastic bowl would hold the grease in the egg whites.
I didn’t know you loosen edges of cake with a knife.
I never knew there were so many variations of apples.
This looks really good, i had no idea there were walnuts in this recipe.
This sounds like a great treat since its sounds healthier than normal chocolate cakes or brownies so i might have to try this.
I didn’t know that you could make your own topping with jus sugar and water.
So beautiful and I need a dessert for tomorrow night. I think I am going to make this. It looks divine. Thanks for sharing!
This cake sounds and looks really good and I learned that plastic bowls would hold grease and prevent egg whites from beating.
this looks really good. i didnt know that a plastic bowl did not hold grease.
Every step of that cake looked delicious!!! Wow I didnt know that apples like Pink Lady, Rome, Honeycrisp, and Spartan were best to use when baking!
I didn’t know you could use egg whites to make upside down cake.
i don’t know you had to put apples on the bottom of the pan.
Put the apples on the bottom is something I have never heard of. It looks very tasty
I learned that a single layer cake serves 4 people.
I didn’t know that there are different type of apples with different tastes.
i learned that if you wip egg whites they get a fluffy foamy like texture!.
I didn’t know a plastic bowl holds grease.
Would putting the whole egg in the cake change the taste?
I love apples and anything that has them in it so i would definately like to try this recipe.
I didn’t know their were different kinds of apples you would use that would taste better, looks delicious!
I learned that you must be patient and wait until it turns a golden color.
i didnt know that plastic holds grease, ill be sure to remember that fact!
I did not know that you needed four types of apples to make apple cake.
The cake looks delicious .. i didnt know that you cant beat eggs in a plastic bowl cause they hold grease .
i find it interesting how you used both the egg whites and the egg yolks.
i learned that you have to let cool on a wire rack for ay least 5 minutes
it should be kept at room temp.
i did not know plastic bowls hold grease and prevents eggs from beating!
This looks really good! It looks like it’s really simple to make and would be hard to mess up.
i learned plastic bowls hold grease
i didnt know there were different kinds of apples to bake with.
i didnt not know plastic bowls hold grease and prevents eggs from beating!
I love this cake it makes me hungry just looking at it. but i was wondering if you can do it with peaches.
What a gorgeous cake. I need to take more time to do things like this. It is so lovely and I am so busy right now focusing on m and d’s 60th anniversary that I am not making anything for us…. and I do have the time… just no energy. I think this cake is timely as the apples are so lovely right now, and it is so beautiful it makes me want to call the neighbour gals over for a morning coffee… but we don’t live in a neighbourhood like that. 😦
🙂
Valerie
I didn’t know that if you use a plastic bowl it will hold grease.
I realize it’s from Cooking Light…but it is truly the lightest looking crumb I have ever seen in an apple cake!
we featured this post on http://FoodPress.com today – what a delicious way to use up autumn apples! thank you!
Thanks to Foodpress I have just found this delicious recipe! Plus I didn’t know you don’t beat eggs in plastic bowls! 🙂
this looks very good. i didnt know if you beat your eggs in a plastic bowl the grease want hold like a glass would