November 10, 2024

Upside Down Ginger Apple Cake

This cake is the late Fall/early winter cake of your dreams- I think it will be the cake I make to celebrate the first day of December. Heavily spiced, moist gingerbread cake is topped with a layer of sweet and sticky apples. The edges are crispy with caramelized sugar. I love it as a special breakfast, or an afternoon treat. As the days become the shortest, this ginger apple cake will help to provide a bit of warmth.

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The Magic of Upside-Down Cakes

If you’ve ever made a cake with chunks of fruit inside and then cut into it, only to find all of the fruit had sunk to the bottom perhaps you’ll understand the appeal of the upside-down cake. No need to fret about sunken fruit, as it’s been purposefully sunken to begin with. After baking the cake is swiftly inverted, thus leaving you with a layer of artfully arranged fruit right on the top.

Upside down cakes are not a new idea- they’ve been being made since at least the Middle Ages. However they were first officially introduced to the Americas in the 1920’s when a San Fransico newspaper published a recipe for a prune and walnut upside-down cake. It was very shortly after that when the Dole company held a contest for home cooks to come up with more recipes for pineapple. The winner was a Mrs. Robert Davis who submitted a recipe for- you guessed it- pineapple upside down cake dedicated to her Aunt Peggy. And from that point onward, with an abundance of tinned pineapples on hand, pineapple upside down cake became a staple at potlucks and dinner parties.

Now adays the pineapple upside down cake isn’t so common. Like aspic and ambrosia, the pineapple upside down cake may have it’s best days behind it, but I don’t think that’s true of all upside-down cakes. Growing up my mom went through phases where she made tons of upside-down cakes, featuring whatever fresh and season fruits were around. It’s such an effective way to elevate seasonal produce to a charming dessert (or breakfast, if you like me eat cake for breakfast sometimes). From berries to figs, rhubarb to peaches, the upside-down cake is an excellent way to integrate fresh fruit into a cake without having to worry much about it getting soggy.

Fruited Cake? I got you

Looking for Apple Recipes? Try one of these!

Ginger Apple Cake Tips and Tricks

If you’d rather not melt the sugar and butter for the topping in the oven, you can place them both in a saucepan on the stove and melt, stirring occasionally. Transfer the melted sugar and butter to the bottom of the cake dish and proceed with the rest of the recipe as written.
When arranging your apple slices in the cake tin, consider that the slices you put down first will be the most visible. I opted to have full apple slices around the edges, but if you want a more flower-like effect in the center start layering there first.
I found this cake to be better suited to smaller apples, as they fit more easily in the tin.
We left the skins on the apples, finding they give a beautiful color to the top of the cake.
I recommend placing a baking tray under the cake, in case any of the sugar topping bubbles over
When checking the cake for doneness, remember that there are apples and sugar at the bottom of the cake that may make a toothpick appear wet.
Wait five minutes (not much more, not much less) after baking before inverting the cake on the plate you wish to serve on.
This is less of a tip, and more of an idea. I can’t shake the idea that this cake would be AMAZING with cranberries on top, either instead of the apples or in addition to one apple. I’m sure I’ll try that at some point, but let me know if you beat me to it!

Upside Down Ginger Apple Cake

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar, divided
1/4 cup plant-based butter
2 small apples
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup plant-based milk
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup neutral-flavored oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup candied ginger, cut into small pieces

Instructions

Heat the oven t 350F (175C). Place 1/2 cup brown sugar and the plant-based butter into a 9-inch cake pan, and place in the oven as it preheats. Check on it every now and then so it doesn't burn, and remove from the oven once the butter and sugar have melted and are bubbling.
To cut prep your apples, cut them first into quarters. Remove the cores, and then cut the quarters length-wise into very thin slices- I cut each apple core into 6-9 small pieces. Once the butter and sugar are bubbling in the cake pan, take out of the oven and arrange the apple slices on top. I like to start on the outside edge and make a ring of overlapping apple slices with two smaller rings inside it.
To make the cake batter, combine the flour, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. Whisk. Make a well in the center and add the remaining brown sugar, applesauce, plant-based milk, molasses, and oil. Whisk the wet ingredients together, and then stir into the dry ingredients. Finally add the candied ginger and fold to combine. Pour the batter on top of the apples and gently smooth into an even layer.
Bake the cake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes run a butter knife around the edges to make sure the cake isn't sticking, and place a large plate on top and quickly flip. The cake should come out cleanly- enjoy!