Apples and honey are a combination I’ve enjoyed my entire life. It is the symbolic food traditionally consumed during Rosh Hashana -the Jewish New Year. This combination of ingredients is supposed to represent hope for sweetness in the new year. This year I put a spin on this tradition and worked on perfecting a honey apple upside down cake. Baking has always been a challenge for me, I am an intuitive cook who often thinks they can make substitutions and skip the precise measuring that most baking recipes require to succeed. I’ve stacked the cards in favor of this apple cake being epically delicious – it is loaded with buttermilk, brown butter, apple warm spices and apple. You just can’t go wrong.
Ingredients:
3 tart, crisp apples – cored and sliced into 12 slices each
1 apple – grated
3/4 cup granulated sugar
8 oz unsalted butter
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350
- Rub a 12″ cast iron pan generously with butter
- Arrange the sliced apples in concentric circles on the bottom of the pan
- Combine the sugar and 3 tbsp of water in a small sauce pot and cook over medium high heat for about 8 minutes, until it turns a golden caramel color and all the sugar has dissolved, pour this caramel over the sliced apples
- In a separate pot melt the butter and continue cooking, stirring and checking regularly, until it has browned and has a sweet hazelnut aroma
- Allow the butter to cool slightly. While it is cooling combine all of the dry ingredients (flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and walnuts) in a large bowl and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, combine the brown butter, eggs, grated apple, grated ginger, buttermilk and honey and whisk well to combine
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Pour this batter over the apples and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick entered into the center of the cake comes out clean
- Allow to cool for 15 minutes. Use a butter knife to cut around the edges of the cake and then carefully flip it onto a large plate of cutting board
- Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and a generous drizzle of honey
