I love the look of a perfect upside-down cake, but I was so apprehensive of trying it on my own. Pineapple upside-down cake must be the most common and most favorite one throughout the world, but I saw a recipe for a simple apple upside-down cake in, wait for it… one of Costco’s cookbooks! The recipe sounded really simple. It is basically a vanilla flavored cake poured on top of a layer of apple slices and a little brown sugar.
This cake is not as laborious to bake as the traditional upside-down caramel apple cake, as there is absolutely no cooking of sugar involved. I get nervous whenever I need to be precise about sugar temperature and stuff. I also replaced the butter in the batter with oil, and what do you know? It turned out just as light and fluffy.
I almost always use sweet red apples (usually gala ones) for baking. I am not a super big fan of Granny Smith green ones. You could use them if their tartness is something you love in a cake or pie.
It would have been lovely if I had cherries to place in the gaps between the apples. I had only dried cranberries with me that day, and they worked beautifully. The cranberries paired perfectly with the sweet apples and brown sugar glaze. Speaking of which, look at that lovely golden sheen! The cake is so simple yet it looks like you made a lot of effort.
My cake rose slightly in the middle but I was not very much bothered by it. If you are serving it at a party and want perfectly flat slices, you can level the top of the cake before inverting it.
APPLE & CRANBERRY UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE
You will need: (Makes an 8-inch square cake)
- Brown sugar – 1/4 cup, tightly packed
- Red apples – 2-3, pips removed and sliced thinly (we will use only the larger circles)
- Dried cranberries – a small handful
- Oil (or butter) – 1/2 cup
- Sugar – 1 cup
- Eggs – 2, large
- Vanilla extract – 1 tsp
- Milk – 1/2 cup
- All purpose flour – 1 1/2 cups
- Baking powder – 1 1/2 tsp
- Salt – 1/2 tsp
How to:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 deg.F and line an 8-inch square cake pan with foil or parchment paper. Brush lightly with oil or melted butter as well.
- Sprinkle brown sugar at the bottom. Arrange the larger apple circles on top and place dried cranberries in the gaps and scatter a few on top of the apples as well.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt and keep aside.
- In a mixing bowl, cream the oil/butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes till nice and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat well for a minute.
- Add the flour mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour, beating lightly after each addition. Combine gently with a spatula. Do not over-mix.
- Pour the batter on top of the apples and berries and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 40-45 minutes or till the cake passes the toothpick test.
- Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes. Place a serving platter/tray on top and invert the cake onto it. Slice the cake and serve warm along with tea, coffee or a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a delicious treat.
Notes:
- You can use pitted and halved cherries instead of the dried cranberries.
- Be patient and cool the cake for a while in the pan before attempting to invert it. If any of the apple or cranberries stick to the pan, remove them gently and stick them onto the cake.
- I covered the entire pan in foil which made inverting the cake very easy. If you covered only the bottom of the pan, you may need to run a knife or spatula along the cake’s edges to loosen it before attempting to invert it.
Tell me, have you attempted an upside-down cake? Which is your favorite?
Try this lovely combination of apples and cranberries and let me know what you think.
If you don’t want the hassle of inverting a cake, try my recipe for a skillet apple cake, a lovely vanilla cake topped with apple slices. I baked it in a skillet, you can easily adapt the recipe to bake in a regular cake pan as well.
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I’m coming with Jhuls–and I want orange pound cake too LOL!!!
Thanks for coming and linking up at our Happy Holidays Link Party. We’d love to see you back next week starting Saturdays @7pm ET on The Midnight Baker from now until Christmas!
Judy@ http://www.bakeatmidnite.com
Sure thing, Judith!
And thanks for hosting 🙂
I hope you don’t mind if I come at your doorstep now to ask you for a slice of this. Uh, you could bake another one for me, too. 😀 Photos and recipes are amazing, Anjana. <3
Come on over, Jhuls. We can bake one together 😉
I love cakes cooked in the skillet. This cake with the apples and cranberries looks delicious!
Awesome! I have always loved these topsy turvy cakes!! Yours looks extremely delicious with the colourful addition of the cranberries! 😀
Thank you!
I love a good upside down cake, it is such a beautiful dessert, thanks for sharing:)
Thank you, Lily!
I love how colourful this photo shoot was!! Also, the cake sounds delish 🙂
Thank you so much, Gab!
Looks delicious and so gorgeous Anjana! 🙂
Thank you, Indu!
I love this, it looks and sounds amazing!
Thank you, Michelle!
Beautiful cake. love how simple it is to make.. lovely pictures.. 🙂
Thank you, Arpita!
oh my! yum!
It is!!!
Oooh just gorgeous Anjana! I have a favorite pineapple upside down cake that I posted long ago, but never tried one with apples! Have to try soon 🙂
Thank you, Naina. It is really very simple, but looks like you made a lot of effort. My kinda cake 😉
Lovely cake Anjana 🙂
Thank you!
What a beautiful cake, love the addition of cranberries 🙂
Thank you!
Loving the idea of this cake! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
This looks delicious and so pretty! Thank you for sharing! Pinned!
Thank you, Michelle!
Loved it Anjana! Simple and easy recipe. I might try making single portion cup cake with this :).
They would be so cute baked as individual cupcakes with an apple slice at the bottom. Lovely!
Beautiful cake and photos! 🙂
Thank you so much!
Mmm Mmm Mmm!
Thank you, Sarah!
Yumm! Upside down cake indeed look great, yours is no exception!
Thank you, Namrata!
This looks marvelous Anjana 🙂 Tx for your warning ‘ be patient..’ That is one thing I can’t be when it comes to a freshly baked cake lol
Thank you. I feel you, it is so hard to be patient when it comes to cake, right?!!
Looks great!
Thank you so much!