Apple, honey and cinnamon upside down cake

Thursday, 17 November 2011 20:44 Editor

I often used to worry about adding extra ingredients to cakes, my worries were how adding extra aromas would work, will the cake rise properly and will it taste good. Since I’ve begun on my infusing of flavour within cakes I have noticed that the taste and colour has improved.

This was the moment when I started thinking of the best way to infuse a cake, make it stand out but also taste good. I wanted a cake that was simple to do, was something of a surprise and also something of a canvas where I could create any design I wished.

The cake I eventually came across was an upside down cake. It may be a simple creation to produce, but it held all the criteria I had been searching for. It was a surprise in the sense that you make it upside down, whereby you coat the bottom of the cake tin with a sugary sauce, then layer your fruit, followed by any spice you may be using and finished up with your cake mixture. Once baked in the oven you allow it to cool, then run a knife around the edges to loosen, next is to flip it over onto a plate and to finish up with you simply peeling away the parchment and let the beauty you have created be revealed.

I had only previously made 2 different upside down cakes, both similar in some regards as I used pineapple and cherry on top of one and the other substituted pineapple for peach. It came clear to me that these varieties were good, but I needed to create an upside down cake that really shone out and one that would make a big impression. The cake I eventually found was named “Apple, honey and cinnamon”, it sounded like an unusual array of flavours, but as is the outlook I implement I like to try new flavours and textures, see how far I can take food and then show to others this new found knowledge.

This variety of upside down has all the usual cake making ingredients but holds a huge taste. The apples when baked are soft, sweet and juicy and go so well with the cinnamon that is just below them but the real joy in this cake is the honey. The honey really works well in this cake, as it is already a sugary based syrup so it will give you a sweet caramelized taste on top along with the sweet soft apples. You will also have a unique 2 way honey explosion of taste in your mouth, one from the top as you will be coating the bottom of your tin with the honey, thus when you flip the cake you will notice the top has a golden colour, this taste alone is superb in its own right, but it’s the taste of the honey within the cake itself that really makes this variety of upside down cake a true champion of cakes. The taste of the moist crumb with a sweet honey infusion really makes any dinner time a real treat.

All the cakes I now produce I try to infuse each layer with either fruit, spice, jam or any other added ingredient I see fitting enough to be included into the cake. It is easy to infuse cakes with added flavour, in a way you are only adding new aroma within a certain layer, the cake itself wont be affected, the only outcome you will get is a much fuller flavour than you would have done if you hadn’t of infused any particular layer.

This cake is so simply to produce, it will bring out all the joy and excitement you get from basking. In a way the fruit that you lay the bottom with is your own personal canvas, you have the ability to make any such design, and there is no right or wrong way in your design choice. We are all looking for cakes that really stand out and take peoples notice and within this cake it has so much character and personality that once you have baked, flipped then peeled away the parchment, you will stand back and look at your new piece of artistic brilliance with a huge sense of self pride.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of honey.
1 1/4 apple; sliced.
1 cup all-purpose flour.
1 tsp baking powder.
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon.
1/2 tsp salt.
1/2 c butter; softened.
1/2 c sugar.
2 eggs.

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180c.
2. Line a 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper and cut it to fit inside Lightly butter the parchment paper.
3. Pour 1/4 c of your honey onto the parchment and then arrange your apple slices. Sprinkle cinnamon evenly over all the apple slices.
4. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, cream together the butter (or butter & oil if you have divided the amount), remaining honey and sugar. Blend in the eggs. Add the dry ingredients until the batter is smooth and pour the batter over the apples, trying to pour it all over, evenly, so you don’t have to spread it too much and risk messing up your beautifully arranged fruit.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes (depends on your oven) until you can stick a knife or toothpick into the center and it comes out clean. While this is baking, the center will look wobbly while the edges look like they are crisping. Do not worry! Let it cook for another five minutes or so, keeping a close eye on the cake until that center hardens like the rest of the cake. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes.
6. Once the cake is cool enough to touch, put a serving plate over the cake wrong-side up, and while holding both the cake and the plate, place both hands on either side and give the cake a quick flip, then cut into slices and enjoy ;-)