I recently came across a fun baking group called Bake Along on my friend Lena’s blog. She bakes some pretty amazing sweets and I liked the recipes they’ve chosen for the next few months.
The first recipe I saw on their list was for this fabulous Warm Apple-Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake from a Bon Appetit baking book. I had to bake along this month! If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know I just love any thing apple. And any thing upside-down!
I thought maybe I shouldn’t make it and post it here since less than month ago I shared an amazing Peach Upside-Down Cake I made in Italy. After I baked it I thought, why not share it…it is a little different in the method and it’s made with apples;)
I don’t have the Bon Appetit book that their group is using, but they also provided a link to the Bon Appetit issue with a similar recipe for the cake. Lena mentions that the method is a little different in the magazine than the one featured in the book. Comparing my cake to her cake, the result looks pretty much the same.
The part I love is that you make a caramel first and then add the apple slice to the caramel to simmer and cook a little. The caramel sauce is incredible (and incredibly hot! be careful when you add your apples on top of the sauce); so incredible that you’ll want to save it to pour on top of a big bowl of vanilla ice-cream!
We all LOVE this cake. How can you go wrong with a moist and delicate cake topped with juicy apples that have been cooked in a caramel sauce? It is my idea of baking perfection.
Warm Apple-Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake
slightly adapted from Bon Appetit
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (for the caramel) plus 3/4 cup (for the batter) sugar
1 1/2 pounds Golden Delicious apples (about 4 medium), peeled, quartered, cored, each quarter cut into 2 wedges
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup boiling water
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in small bowl to blend. Place cornmeal in large bowl; pour 1/2 cup boiling water over and stir to blend. Add 5 tablespoons room temperature butter and 3/4 cup sugar to cornmeal mixture. Using electric mixer, beat until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture alternately with milk in 2 additions each. Carefully pour batter over apples in pan.
Bake cake until golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool cake in skillet 5 minutes. Run small knife between cake and pan sides to loosen cake. Carefully invert cake onto ovenproof.
Buon Appetito! Best enjoyed warm and even better with a scoop of your favorite ice-cream!
How is the rest of your summer going? Thanks for stopping by to say hi!
xo
Lora
Today I've posted an Upside Down cake too 🙂 … Your cake looks delicious, I haven't used cornmeal in cakes before, but looking at your creation I think I'll try it out. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Lora, Your cake looks delicious! Yes, the recipe is a little different from the one in the book, and I can see that they are both winners! Caramel with ice cream, sounds good to me! It is great to have you baking-along with us! Please feel free to join us anytime! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
What a fun baking group. Your cake looks gorgeous. I love apples, but never would have done a cake like this. Great idea!
Wondering why I've never thought to try apples with an upside down cake? Love caramel with apples so I'm betting this combination would evoke that flavor combo and I would love it!
This cake looks incredible! Apples and Carmel what could be better on cake. : )
Caramel, apple, cake? Looks like heaven to me! 🙂
Ok…this looks amazing…
Lora, this awesome yummy upside-down apple cake disappeared so fast…I was lucky enough to get a small piece. Can't believe how good it was; so moist not too sweet, and delicious!
xo
This looks so good. Can I have a piece for breakfast, right now? 🙂
This looks so delicious. I love apple desserts. Yummy!
Delicious apple cornmeal cake Lora. I haven't made a upside down for long time.
Hi lora,
this was a really great bake! Lovely moist texture and, like you said, just the right amount of sweetness.
Your pinwheel pattern on top looks nice. Love the caramalised apples on top.
Anuja
This looks so tasty, one of my husbands favorite cakes is pineapple upside down but he loves apples so I'm thinking I should make this for him 🙂
Yours look gorgeous: ) nice to have you bake along with us.
Who EVER needs caramel apples when you can have caramel upside down cake? (and not risk busting a tooth). It looks beautiful, Lora..so beautiful and delicious, I must pin it 🙂 xo
I've never had any type of cornmeal cake! I'm so curious to try this!
hi lora, so glad that you decided to post it. Yeah, i enjoy this cake too and if there were ice cream to go along, it would be better still. NIce bake, lora and hope you will continue to bake along with us. Cheers!
I love the idea of a bake along group, I can smell the cakes coming out of the oven;-)
This cake has everything I love going for it- the apples, the cornmeal and of course, being upside down;-)
What a great idea to have a "bake along" group! This cake looks and sounds amazing. Pinning now. Happy Saturday!!
this sounds SO good! It makes me think of fall, which I'm so excited for!
Love the idea of bake along and would love to join the group! This upside down cake looks fantastic!! Never tried a cornmeal version, but your delicious pictures are making me drool here!
Oh this sounds soooo delicious! I love apple desserts! 🙂
Hi, Lora! It's so fascinating to see how one recipe can produce so many different but unique versions! Hmmmm…upside down cake or tarte tatin, i love them all!
Did I tell you before you are the queen of upsidedown cakes?! Yes, I am pretty sure I did. incredibly moist and delicious looking! I wish I was your neighbor!
Upside-down cake makes me so happy!!! I am thinking cornmeal and apples would put that cake over the top, Yum!!! Hugs, Terra
Pineapple upside down cake is a fave, so I'm loving your apple, caramel, cornmeal cake!!
Well, you know how much I love an upside down cake, any fruit cake like this. I love it with apples – JP's favorite! Perfect again, Lora!
This reminds me of fall! It won't be too long before local apples start to appear in the Farmers' Markets. I will bookmark this reicipe. It sounds perfect for those cooler days that will hopefully be here soon!
This looks amazing! I'll be saving this for the fall!
Sounds like a fun group and how about that cake??!! Bet a big dollop of icecream would be perfect with it.
Summer is going too fast 🙁
That cake looks incredibly moist – and I like the addition of cornmeal for a little texture.
Gorgeous! This may just serve to quell your father's craving for apple pie. Warm baked apples in anything is so wonderful.
Looks delicious and looks as if its will be another recipe that I can use during the wintertime to deal with stored apples.
Hi Lora,
Nice to have you baking along with us for this bake. I've heard from Lena and Joyce about your blog and so I've participated your foccacia event. Sorry that I've not been active enough to participate further and will try to keep up more in the future 😀
Zoe
You had me at 10" cast iron skillet! LOVE baking in my skillet…and something this yummy? YAY! 🙂
your cake looks wonderful! apple and caramel is just incredible together
I made your peach cake – http://gourmetglobal.blogspot.com/2012/07/peach-upside-down-polenta-cake.html – I am sure this one is just as yummy