“Can we get to the place where there is no place to get to?”
How is it possible that in 30 years of my life, I am just now making an apple upside-down cake?! These little babes have changed the game!
There’s nothing like a pineapple upside down cake, am I right? It’s so sweet and gooey and honestly, perfect. Years ago, I made a pineapple upside down layer cake—now THAT was extravagant! But, this year, it’s like something hit me and I finally made a caramel apple upside down cake. YUM. As my husband loves all things apples—he has his own honey crisp apple section at our house, loves apple pie, we had an apple pie tier in our wedding cake… I decided to make these for our anniversary this year! Sadly, it was sort of a fail, they just didn’t come out the way that I wanted, mainly because it was so last minute, and I was pressed with time as our baby was most likely crawling around like a madman! Anyways, I knew that I needed another go with these, so, voilà, we did it!
To start, I made a caramel. All on its own. On the stovetop, like the true pastry chef that I am! (laughs a little) And from there, I used a tried and true banana cake recipe that I have, tweaked it slightly, and made that the cake! It’s so dang moist (sorry!), not overly sweet, the perfect blend of fall spices, this is what dreams are made of—thank you Hilary Duff. Was I nervous that the caramel would stick when I took them out of the oven? Duh! But did it? Hell no. This cake seriously must love me because it came out so. dang. perfect.
So now, about a month after our anniversary, I have the most incredible anniversary cake for you! Of course, I did make these mini chocolate anniversary cakes years ago, and those are GOOD, but these are better! What can I say, we love an upside-down cake, we love an apple!
Oh, can I also add in that I made these all within Oliver’s 90-minute nap?! I believe it took me under an hour from start to finish, including the clean up!
caramel ingredients
Butter—2 oz, or 4 TBL
Brown Sugar—2.75 oz, or 1/3 C
Cinnamon—1 tsp
Vanilla Extract—½ tsp
Apple—1 medium
process
In a small sauce-pot, melt the butter and brown sugar together
Allow to boil for 1 minute
Remove from the heat and mix in the cinnamon and vanilla
Pour into the bottoms of your muffin pan, I used a large muffin pan, this makes 6
Press your apple slices on top of the caramel and set aside while you make the cake batter
cake ingredients
Butter, softened—4 oz, or ½ C
Coconut Sugar—4 oz, or 2/3 C
Banana—2 medium, ripe
Vanilla Extract—1 tsp
Flour—5.5 oz, or 1 C
Baking Powder—¾ tsp
Baking Soda—½ tsp
Salt—½ tsp
Cinnamon—2 tsp
Cloves—½ tsp
Milk—2 oz, or ¼ C
process
Preheat your oven to 350˚ F
In a large bowl, combine your softened butter and sugar
Mix in the mashed banana—I find very brown bananas are best for the job!
Add vanilla
In another bowl, soft together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves
Add this to the wet ingredients and fold in until just combined
Add in the milk
Fill up each muffin cup until they are about ¾ of the way full
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then rotate the pan, and bake for another 10-12
The cakes should spring back when touched, and you can always do the toothpick test.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes
Carefully, flip the muffin pan over before the caramel becomes too solid and cool
To enjoy, warm up so you have a soft caramel and a warm cake!
Bon Appétit!
