U is for Upside Down Apple Cake (Jennifer)

Hello readers!

I hope your week has gotten off to a lovely start! Jessica and I have been quite the busy bees at work, so getting into the kitchen has been a much needed escape from it all! This week, as California has been re-introduced to spring, I wanted to choose a recipe that was a little bit lighter, a little more simple, and a little less sweet than your traditional upside down cake recipe.

I ended up choosing a recipe from Cooking Light magazine, one of the first real cooking magazines that I read in my younger days. I always appreciated the photography, as well as their detailed instructions for recipes. It made it so much easier for a newbie in the kitchen like me to follow along. This upside down apple cake was sweet, but not heavy; moist, but not too syrupy. It didn't have that deep, caramel-like topping that I've come to expect with upside down cakes, but I think that could have been remedied by cooking the sugar a bit longer. In any event, if you are looking for a sweet treat, without the expense of your whole day's worth of calories, I'd give this recipe a try! Enjoy!

Apple Upside Down Cake
From Cooking Light

Topping:

Cooking spray

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

3 cups (1/4-inch-thick) slices peeled Rome apples (about 2 large)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Cake:

5 3/10 ounces cake flour (about 1 1/3 cups)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons butter, softened

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk

3 large egg whites

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray.

2. To prepare topping, combine 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in a small heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until sugar dissolves, stirring gently as needed to dissolve sugar evenly (about 3 minutes). Continue cooking for 4 minutes or until golden (do not stir). Immediately pour into prepared cake pan, tipping quickly to coat bottom of pan. Arrange apple slices in concentric circles in pan over the warm caramel. Sprinkle with nuts; set aside.

3. To prepare cake, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir with a whisk.
4. Combine 2/3 cup sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and vanilla to sugar mixture; beat until combined. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition.

5. Place egg whites in a large, clean bowl. Beat egg whites with mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form using clean, dry beaters. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Spread batter over apples. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack in pan for 5 minutes. Loosen edges of cake with a knife; invert cake onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Review: Overall, this cake was good. It was fluffy, had a great apple taste, and was moist. But, I would not be sharing the complete truth if I said it was amazing. I would have liked for the sugar to carmelize a bit more, so I'd recommend cooking it longer than the 4 minutes stated in the recipe. I also cut my apples very thin, and they cooked all the way through which was perfect. I'd go a little thinner than 1/4 inch. Sprinkled with a dusting of cinnamon and served with vanilla ice cream (I know it takes out the "healthy" factor!), it was a very nice end to a lovely dinner.

Cheers!
Jennifer

Jessica's secret ingredient next week is vanilla!