Gingerbread Apple Upside Down Cake
Hubby and I have been hosting quite a few dinner parties since our kitchen is finished. It’s nice to not be embarrassed to have people over because of our kitchen. For one of these dinner parties, I let Hubby choose the dessert. I gave him a few to choose from and he said he was in the mood for gingerbread. Hubby even offered to help by peeling and cutting the apples for me.
I didn’t have a 10″ pan, so I used a 9″ pan. The cake didn’t overflow, but you can see that I have a nice little foot on the bottom of my cake due to using a smaller pan and not adjusting the recipe. That’s ok it was still amazing.
I must have cooked my caramel too long because it was not as gooey and flowy as the original pictures show on Smitten Kitchen. I served this at room temperature with some fresh whipped cream on top. Everyone really enjoyed it.
Gingerbread Apple Upside Down Cake
Yield: 12
Ingredients:
For the Topping
4 tablespoons butter, plus extra for greasing pan
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
Pinch of salt
4 apples (about 1 3/4 pounds), peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch wedges
For the Batter
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup dark molasses
1/3 cup honey
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Very softly whipped cream
Directions:
Make the Topping
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 10-inch cake pan. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, four minutes, then swirl in salt. Remove from heat and pour into the bottom of your cake pan. Make circles of overlapping apple slices on top of the caramel. Chop any remaining slices and place them in the gaps.
Make the Batter
Using a mixer, blend 1/2 cup butter and the sugar on medium-low speed. Increase the speed to high and cream until light and fluffy.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, molasses, honey and buttermilk. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Alternate mixing the flour and molasses mixtures into the butter mixture, adding the next once the last has been incorporated.
Pour the batter into the pan. Bake at least 45 to 50 minutes or until a wooden tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool on a rack for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a platter.
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen
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I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
This is the perfect recipe for all of the leftover ingredients I have! Hubby made me buy a 3-pound bag of cranberries because he loves them, but you only use 12 ounces for cranberry sauce so I’ve got about 2 pounds of cranberries left to use, plus lots of pumpkins and pecans. This is definitely being made this weekend!
Oh man. That does sound good. And I know it must be if you’re repeating it because I am the same way. I’m going to make a cranberry maple pecan cake on Friday… but this is really tempting too.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh, man! If I only had more time for Thanksgiving dessert table – this is certainly one I would try.
Oooh this cake looks so ooey gooey and delicious! I wish there weren’t already so many desserts coming to my Thanksgiving table because I’d totally make this!
Sues
This looks super delicious and your photos look great too! Happy Thanksgiving to you and hubby!
ooooh, my, i must try this 🙂 happy thanksgiving!!
What a fabulous recipe! All the flavors sound delicious to me.
This looks amazing! It looks so moisty yum, I should try to make this sometime, Love your blog! this is my first comment for you so I thought I’d show some appreciation for your blog, because I’ve been drooling over all your recipes for a while
Shandra-http://shandrita.tumblr.com/
Your photos are beautiful! The pictures I took of the actual cake didn’t look to appealing, the photos I took of the bite sized cake bites looked pretty though lol
Good job!!
What a great recipe! You totally had me at caramel/pecan/cranberry topping.
Just finally made this cake and it is astoundingly good! Truly the best dessert I’ve had in…oh, a very long time. Thank you for your post!
I tried to be good, I really did! This cake was so delicious, I not only had seconds, I had a piece for breakfast the next day and for a snack later that day. This one goes on my Christmas menu!
beantownbaker — December 1st, 2013 @ 6:52 pm
I doubled the recipe this time and you’ll remember the middle didn’t quite bake through. It also spilled over a bit, so next time, I’ll put a pan under the cake in the oven.