This recipe for gooey caramel apple upside down cake is moist, delicious and packed with flavour. A great sticky sweet for tea time treats.
Summary
Prep: 10 minutes
Cooking: 45 minutes
Ages: Toddlers to Teens
Difficulty: Easy peasy
Makes: 1 medium cake
How to make apple upside down cake
As it’s an upside down cake it all starts from the top down, with the apples. We chose pink lady apples for their sweet and delicate flavour, but use the apple variety that you love best. Prepare the apples by peeling and chopping them into slices.
You can then make caramel, simply by heating the ingredients in a saucepan for a few minutes. These are your butter, sugar, ground cinnamon and milk. Set on a low heat and stir them constantly until you get a thick sauce. Caramel is very sensitive so take care not to over cook it.
When it’s ready pour it into a greased tin base. Lay out the apple pieces on top in a fan shape and layer one on top of the other.
Prepare your cake batter by combining the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Mix the two together and stir to get your cake batter. Then pour this on top of the apple slices and caramel.
And that’s it. Bake your cake on the middle shelf of the oven until the kitchen smells of cinnamon apple pie! Flip it over onto a cake dish in one go to finish it off. Your cake will be topped by gooey caramel apple slices.
Caramel apple upside down cake
Ingredients
Apple caramel topping:
- ¼ cup butter (60 grams)
- ½ cup light brown sugar (100 grams)
- 50 mls whole milk
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 large (or 3 small) pink lady apples, peeled and thinly sliced
Cake:
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour (210 grams)
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup light brown sugar (150 grams)
- pinch of salt
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup Greek yogurt (120 grams)
- 100 mls vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) fan setting.
- Grease a round cake tin well using butter or oil spray. We used a medium tin that was 20 cm (8 inch) diameter.
- Peel and thinly slice the apples.
Caramel apple topping:
- In a medium sized saucepan, stir together the butter, brown sugar, milk and cinnamon over low heat.
- When everything has combined, remove from the heat and pour into the greased cake tin. It should be spread evenly across the bottom of the cake tin.
- Arrange the apple slices over the caramel base in a fan shape. You can overlap the apple slices to ensure that they cover the base of the cake tin.
Cake:
- In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, brown sugar and salt. Mix together.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and yogurt until smooth.
- Add in the vegetable oil and vanilla essence and whisk again.
- Pour these into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix it all together until well combined to finish the cake mixture.
- Pour the cake batter into the tin, on top of the caramel and apple layers.
- Bake in centre of the oven for 45 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.
- Then the fun part! Place a large plate over the cake tin and flip the cake over in one swift motion onto the serving plate. If you need to, tap or shake it a little to make sure the cake comes off in one motion.
- Serve your gooey caramel apple upside down cake while warm with some vanilla ice cream.
Gooey caramel apple upside down cake – our step by step guide:
Prepare your apple slices
Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) fan setting. Grease a medium sized cake tin. Ours was about 20 cm (8 inch) wide.
Peel and slice your apples and set aside.
We used pink lady apples as we love their sweetness but you may prefer another apple variety so feel free to use those.
Make your caramel topping
In a small saucepan heat your butter, brown sugar, milk and cinnamon on a low heat. Stir it constantly and as soon as it’s a thick liquid, remove from the heat. Caramel burns easily so take care not to overcook it.
When it’s ready, pour it into the base of your cake tin.
Tilt it back and forth so that the base of the pan is evenly covered with the caramel.
Add the apple slices
Arrange your apple slices in a fan shape on top of the caramel.
Don’t be afraid to overlap the apple slices so that it covers the tin base with a layer of slices. It’s all about the apples with this cake.
Mix your dry ingredients for the cake
Whisk together your flour, baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.
Mix your yogurt and eggs
In a separate bowl mix your yogurt and eggs. Whisk or mix with an electric mixer, until smooth.
Add in the vegetable oil and vanilla extract.
Combine the dry and wet ingredients to make the cake batter
Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients.
Stir it all together until well combined and you get a thick cake batter.
Pour it on top of your caramel and apple
Spoon your batter into the cake tin on top of your fanned out apple slices.
Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t fill the cake tin. It will rise quite a bit while it’s cooking.
Bake and flip
Place in the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through. Let it cool in the cake tin for about 10 minutes.
Then put a plate over your cake tin and hold it securely in place. Flip the cake over in one quick motion.
If you need to, tap and shake the tin a little until the cake comes free.
Lift off the cake tin
Lift off the cake tin to reveal your apple upside down cake! A moist caramel cake topped with baked cinnamon apples.
Cut yourself a slice and serve with warm milk or vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy this gooey and warming caramel apple upside down cake
Gooey caramel apple upside down cake
Ingredients
Apple caramel topping
- 60 grams unsalted butter ¼ cup
- 100 grams light brown sugar ½ cup
- 50 mls whole milk
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 large pink lady apples (or 3 small) peeled and sliced
Cake
- 210 grams plain flour 1½ cups
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 150 grams light brown sugar ¾ cup
- pinch salt
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup Greek yogurt 120 grams
- 100 mls vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
Instructions
-
Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) fan setting.
-
Grease a round cake tin well using butter or oil spray. We used a medium sized tin that was 20 cm (8 inch) diameter.
-
Peel and thinly slice the apples.
Caramel apple topping
-
In a medium sized saucepan, stir together the butter, brown sugar, milk and cinnamon over low heat.
-
When everything has combined, remove from the heat and pour into the greased cake tin. It should be spread evenly across the bottom of the cake tin.
-
Arrange the apple slices over the caramel base in a fan shape. You can overlap the apple slices to ensure that they cover the base of the cake tin.
Cake
-
In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, brown sugar and salt. Mix together.
-
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and yogurt until smooth.
-
Add in the vegetable oil and vanilla essence and whisk again.
-
Pour these into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix it all together until well combined to finish the cake mixture.
-
Pour the cake batter into the tin, on top of the caramel and apple layers.
-
Bake in centre of the oven for 45 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.
-
Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.
-
Then the fun part! Place a large plate over the cake tin and flip the cake over in one swift motion onto the serving plate. If you need to, tap or shake it a little to make sure the cake comes off in one motion.
-
Serve your gooey caramel apple upside down cake while warm with some vanilla ice cream.
