Tom Kerridge's apple upside down cake
Straight out of his new book “Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain”, the Michelin-starred chef is whipping up his perfect apple upside-down cake, using Granny Smith Apples, brown sugar and spiced with cinnamon. Serve it with ice cream and we guarantee you'll be reaching for a second slice.
Apple Upside-Down Cake
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
A little softened butter or oil, to grease4 British apples (e.g. Gala or Bramley), peeled, quartered, cored, then each quarter cut in half
For the caramel: 150g caster sugar 75g butter, cut into pieces 50ml double cream
For the cake mixture: 225g butter, softened225g soft light brown sugar4 large free-range eggs2 tsp vanilla paste225g self-raising flour1 tsp ground cinnamon½ tsp ground mixed spice A pinch of salt
To serve: Vanilla ice cream or softly whipped double cream
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Lightly brush a 23cm round loose-bottomed cake tin with soft butter or oil (to help the lining paper stick). Line the base and sides with baking paper, cutting a 28cm round of paper to line the base to ensure it extends a few cm up the side of the tin (this will seal the bottom edge and prevent the caramel from spilling out). Stand the tin on a baking tray.
2. To prepare the caramel, put the sugar into a small, deep heavy-based saucepan and place over a medium-high heat. As it starts to melt, swirl the pan gently to encourage even melting. When the sugar syrup turns a dark caramel colour, take the pan off the heat and add the butter and cream. The mixture will bubble up at first, so let it calm down and then stir with a wooden spoon. Place the pan back over the heat and stir for 2 minutes until smoothly combined.
3. Carefully pour the caramel onto the base of your lined cake tin. Starting around the edge of the tin, arrange the apple pieces, cut side down, in concentric circles over the caramel, packing them closely together. Set aside while you prepare the cake mixture.
4. To make the cake batter, put the butter and sugar into a medium bowl and whisk, using a hand-held electric whisk, until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one by one, whisking well after each addition (don’t worry if the mixture begins to curdle at this point, once the flour is added it will be ok).
5. Add the vanilla paste, flour, cinnamon, mixed spice and salt and continue whisking until you have a smooth batter. Spoon the mixture over the apples and smooth over with the back of the spoon to create an even layer.
6. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 45-50 minutes. To test, insert a cocktail stick into the middle of the cake - if it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 5 minutes to cool a little.
7. Release the cake from the side of the tin. Invert a large serving plate over the top of the cake and flip both, to turn the cake out onto the plate - do this carefully as there might be some hot caramel sauce underneath. Remove the bottom layer of baking paper.
8. Slice the upside-down cake into wedges and serve warm, with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on the side.