Apple Upside-down Pudding Cake

Check this baby out for a wonderful autumnal pud! This is one of my favourite desserts, light sponge topped with soft apple in a buttery cinnamon syrup, served warm with lashings of cream or custard. It’s easy to make too. There are three young apple trees in the garden here in sunny Fife, only a couple of years old they are already producing lovely small apples. I picked four of them for this cake, dashing out between rain showers in the afternoon. It was served for pudding after the Sunday roast.

The weather has been lovely today, I took Bo for a nice walk down to the harbour. I love being back by the sea, there is something wonderfully liberating about gazing out over the ocean. One of the great things about living in the UK is that you’re only a couple of hours from the coast from anywhere.

Apple Upside-down Pudding Cake

oven 180 C / gas 4

20 cm square tin, or similar, lined with baking parchment

For the apples

• 4 small apples {or 3 big ones} peeled, cored and cut into wedges
• 50 g unsalted butter
• 75 g soft light brown sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp mixed spice
• a squeeze of lemon juice

For the sponge

• 100 g soft light brown sugar
• 100 g unsalted butter, softened
• 2 free-range eggs
• 100 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp apple juice, milk or cider {I used cider in this batch as we were drinking it at the time!}

First the apples are softened, so melt the 50 g of butter in a large pan or frying pan, I used my wok. Stir in the 75 g soft brown sugar, the apple wedges and spices. Simmer over a low to medium heat for about 10 minutes until the apples are soft but still holding their shape, and the butter and sugar becomes a thick, dark syrup. Stir in the lemon juice. Transfer to your lined tin.

Make the sponge simply by putting all the sponge ingredients into a bowl and using an electric mixer to beat into a batter. You can make it by hand, creaming the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon, adding the eggs individually along with the vanilla, sifting in the flour and folding it in, stir in the milk, juice or cider to finish. Spoon it over the apples in the tin and spread it out to cover them with a knife.

Bake for about 25 minutes until the top in springy. It can sit in the tin for a few minute then turn it out onto a plate. Serve warm. It is also delicious served cold as regular cake with a cup of tea. Apple-ylutely delicious!