Wheeler Cowperthwaite

This apple upside down cake, topped with honey, is the perfect desert for fall.

Each year, fall ushers in the apple season, which will last and last — and if you keep the picked apples cool and dry — it will last some more, long enough to get to the holidays.

Each year, I try and find a new way to do something with apples. There are crisps and crumbles, cobblers and pies, but sometimes you run across something different that makes you stand up, take note, and say “hey, I’m going to do that this year.”

Recently, a friend introduced me to an apple cake that absolutely blew me away, so much, in fact, that it will be presented for copious consumption at all in-season parties, stretching at least to Thanksgiving.

The idea is simple: an apple upside down cake. But the proof is in the fresh apples, the use of honey and a caramel topping that will eventually seep into the cake.

Apple cake is associated with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, which comes in October. I think this cake is perfect for that time of the year, as the weather begins to turn cool. This cake has many of the hallmarks of the holidays: sugar and spice (ginger, cinnamon, consider cardamom and other holiday spices as well) and generally, everything nice.

There are a few notes for dealing with the cake: First is getting it out of the pan after it has baked. It is important to loosen the edges and let it cool before putting a serving plate on top, flipping it, and hoping it comes out smoothly.

Second, I use parchment paper to line the 9-inch cake pan. While I still grease the parchment paper, I find it much easier than baking the cake directly in the pan.

When it comes to baking the apples upside down, choose firm, tart apples, this allows them to be a contrast to the sweetness of the honey and hold up as the cake bakes above them. I prefer Granny Smith, but other varieties are Mutsu, Winesap and Honey Crisp.

When the cake comes out and is ready to be flipped, it and the topping should have a nice caramel color.

Upside Down Honeyed Apple Cake

Ingredients

Honey apple layer

2 apples, cored and sliced thinly (peeling optional)

1/3 cup honey

6 tablespoons butter

¼ cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

Cake

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1½ cups white flour

1½ tsps. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. salt

½  cup granulated sugar

½ brown sugar (firmly packed)

¼ cup honey

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup milk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Honey apple layer

Line a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper and spray with oil/grease. Lay the apples down in a spiral.

Melt the 6 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan. Turn the heat medium high and add the honey, granulated sugar and vanilla. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until the mixture looks frothy and is a little thickened. Pour the mixture over the apples, making sure there is even distribution.

Cake

In a medium bowl, mix both types of sugar and butter until well combined. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, and then mix into the bowl of sugared butter.

In a separate bowl, mix together the vanilla, eggs, milk and honey. Slowly combine the wet mixture with the butter and flour until well combined.

Spread the batter over the apples in the cake pan.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden. A skewer pushed into the center should not be wet, but may not be clean because of the apples. The cake will bounce back when lightly pressed. Do not over-bake.

Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes.

After it has cooled, run a knife around the edge of the cake, then place a serving platter on top. Flip the platter and the pan together and carefully remove the pan.

Recipe adapted from Carina Wolff in Good Mood Food and The Butter Lab.

Wheeler Cowperthwaite is a former cops/courts reporter for the Rio Grande SUN.