Apple Upside-Down Cake

I am honored to get the first look at my friend Kris Holechek Peters' recipes for her upcoming cookbook, The I Love Trader Joe's Vegetarian Cookbook.  I've been testing some recipes before they are published in her upcoming book.  You can't get your hands on the book just yet but you can pre-order the book, and I suggest you do.  This is only one of the very delicious recipes that will show up in the book. (I've pre-ordered mine already!)

I've been given permission to post this one recipe here for you all to enjoy.  I made this cake over the last weekend and it was gone in just one day.  We ate it for breakfast and happily ate it again for an afternoon snack.  If there were some left I would have served it up with ice cream for an late evening snack. 


Apple Upside-Down Cake

4 cups peeled, sliced tart apples (1/2 inch thick), about 3-4 apples
1 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup Trader Joe’s Organic Brown Sugar
1/2 teas. fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups Trader Joe’s Unbleached All-purpose Flour
1 1/2 teas. baking powder
1 teas. Trader Joe’s Ground Cinnamon
1/2 teas. salt
1/3 cup mild vegetable oil
3/4 cup Trader Joe’s Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup milk
1 teas. Trader Joe’s Bourbon Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease and flour an 8 inch cake round and line the bottom with parchment.
Because this cake is inverted, it works best with parchment on the bottom, to ensure a clean release.

Prepare the apples. Using a variety of apples will give a more complex flavor than just one variety. In a skillet, melt the butter. Add the brown sugar and lemon juice, then add the apples. Simmer until apples are coated with the sugar mixture and slightly softened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a large bowl, cream together the oil and sugar. Add the applesauce, milk and vanilla. In two batches, incorporate the dry mix into the wet.

Arrange the apple slices in the bottom of the pan and drizzle any additional juices from the pan over the apples. Spread the cake batter over the top of the apples. Bake from 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick from the center comes out clean of batter, but with a couple of moist crumbs on it. Remove pan from oven and let cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge of the pan and carefully invert cake onto serving dish. Let the cake sit for a minute or two before carefully lifting the pan off. Peel the parchment off of the cake and let it continue cooling for at least 20 additional minutes before serving.

Makes: 10-12 slices of cake