I love making apple cakes in the fall! Here is the recipe I used for my upside-down apple cake, posted on Sept 29, 2021
2 medium apples, cut into small pieces
2 cups flour
1 1/3 cups sugar
About 2 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp clove
1/2 cup sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease one 9-inch cake tin
2. Cut apples into thin pieces (mine were about the size of my thumb nail).
3. Add all cake ingredients except apples into a bowl or stand mixer and give it a good whirl until you have a nice cake batter. Just beat enough so the ingredients are combined. Start with the two cups of water mentioned above, and add more as necessary until you have a thick batter
4. Stir in 1/2 the apples.
1. Add sugar to a medium saucepan and turn on medium heat.
2. Do not stir the sugar, but feel free to move the saucepan around to ensure sugar melts evenly
3. Wait until sugar has melted and turned a golden color. Turn off heat and immediately proceed to the assembly step.
1. Pour caramel sauce from the saucepan into your greased cake tin. Add about 1/2 of your apple slices to the bottom of the cake pan, creating an even layer over the caramel
2. Pour cake batter over the apple/caramel layer
3. Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
I made a fun apple shaped cake with this. If that's your end goal too, double the cake and frosting recipes below. If you're not going for an apple shaped cake, I would skip the fondant. It doesn't add a ton and is very hard work with all the kneading!
3 medium apples, cut into small pieces
1 tsp orange juice (I used juice from a .5 inch slice of orange)
4.5 cups flour
3 cups sugar
2.25 cups almond milk
.75 cup vegetable oil
.5 stick earth balance buttery stick (melted)
.5 tsp salt
2 Tbs baking powder
1 Tbs cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 tsp ginger powder
4 oz tofutti cream cheese
1.5 sticks earth balance buttery stick, softened
1 Tbs almond milk
4.5 (ish) cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 bag of vegan marshmallows
4 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbs water
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease 3 9-inch cake tins and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
2. Skin and cut apples into thin pieces (mine were about the size of my thumb nail). Add orange juice to the apples and toss them around to coat in the orange juice
3. Add all cake ingredients into a bowl or stand mixer and give it a good whirl until you have a nice cake batter. Just beat enough so the ingredients are combined. We're not trying to develop any gluten here.
4. Divide the batter into the 3 cake tins and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. If you are attempting an apple shape like I did, you may want to start the cake the day before so you have time to fully allow the cakes to cool. You'll also need to double this recipe to get all six layers. At this point, you'll want to stack up all your layers and cut into an apple shape. Do this before frosting so you don't end up cutting off any already-frosted cake!
1. Add cream cheese, butter, and almond milk to a mixing bowl or stand mixer
2. Slowly add powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Incorporate each cup before adding the next, or you will be covered in sugar.
3. Add the vanilla.
4. Wait until cakes are FULLY COOL before frosting. I recommend putting the cake in the fridge for an hour or two just after frosting so they don't fall.
1. Microwave marshmallows and water in 30-second intervals until the marshmallows are melty
2. Stir in powdered sugar one cup at a time. Knead until the sugar is incorporated, and then add the next cup.
3. I kneaded in the bowl for awhile, then on a flat, oiled surface. I also oiled my hands so the fondant would stick less
4. Add food coloring to your fondant as desired.
5. Roll out the fondant between two pieces of parchment paper so it doesn't stick to the rolling pin.