Apple Upside-Down Gingerbread

Description
Courtesy of
Chef Trish Aser of Brown Hound Downtown
This delicious recipe was provided by Chef Trish Aser of Brown Hound Downtown located in Rochester, NY.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup(s) packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup(s) butter
- 2 tablespoon(s) apple cider
- 1 teaspoon(s) molasses
- 2-3 apples
- 2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon(s) baking soda
- 2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon(s) ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
- 1 cup(s) sugar
- 1/2 cup(s) melted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup(s) molasses
- 1/2 cup(s) canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
- 1/2 cup(s) boiling water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 9" x 9" x 2" square baking pan or 10" round cake pan with nonstick spray.
- Combine the brown sugar, butter, apple cider and molasses in a heavy saucepan.
- Bring to boil over medium heat, whisking until sugar dissolves and syrup is smooth; boil 1 minute. Pour evenly into prepared pan.
- Core and cut 2–3 apples into ½” slices and arrange in caramel in a decorative pattern.
- In mixing bowl, whisk and blend flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, ground cinnamon, ground ginger and salt well.
- In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients (butter, eggs, molasses, canned pumpkin puree and boiling water), by hand or electric mixer.
- Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just blended—do not overmix.
- Dollop batter over patterned apples, so as not to disturb your design and smooth batter to cover to the edges.
- Place cake pan on a cookie sheet to catch spills and bake about 25 to 30 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Place serving platter face down over pan and flip to unmold cake.
- Serve warm with fresh whipped cream, crème fraîche or ice cream.
TIP:
- If uncertain that your cake is finished baking, look for slight puffing on top and when gently pressing a finger into the cake, it should spring back.
- If your cake doesn’t unmold, warm the bottom of the cake pan for a couple minutes in a pan of very hot water to loosen the caramel.
- If any apples/caramel remains in the pan, gently remove with a spatula and replace on top of cake!
- I don’t recommend a loose bottom/tart pan as most of your caramel will escape and turn to hard candy on your pan.
- If you have hard candy-caramel on you pans, soak in warm water for 10-15 minutes. It will soften and dissolve easily!
- If you like a spicier cake, by all means adjust quantity and variety of spices … allspice, clove, nutmeg, etc.
- Use a muffin tin to make individual cakes!