Caramel Spiced Apple Upside Down Cake

This easy upside down cake has soft baked apples covered in homemade caramel sauce on top of a fluffy, autumn spiced brown sugar sponge.

Upside down cakes just make me think of cosy Sunday dinners at home! This autumn spiced caramel apple upside down cake has a delicious topping of soft baked apple slices in a gooey homemade caramel sauce, all on top of a light and fluffy spiced, brown sugar sponge.

It looks much more complicated than it really is! Just make your easy microwave caramel sauce, arrange your apple slices, then pour over the simple brown sugar sponge mixture. Once it's baked, serve warm or cold - and for extra yumminess add some vegan custard or ice cream!

It's dairy free, egg free, nut free, easily gluten free and of course, completely plant based!

This recipe makes one 8" upside down cake. It is best eaten within about four days while it is freshest. Store in an airtight container in a cool and dry place or freeze slices of cake for longer.

The recipe is based on making one large 8" cake but you could make little individual upside down cakes in ramekins instead if you would like.

Makes one 8" cake

Caramel ingredients;

45g vegan block butter

150g soft brown sugar

90g vegan cream

1/2 tsp vanilla powder

Sponge ingredients;

270g plain flour

225g soft brown sugar

9g baking powder

1 tsp vanilla powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

150g sunflower oil

270g soya milk

9g apple cider vinegar

2 large cooking or Bramley apples

You will also need; a mixing bowl, whisk, spoon, 8" baking tin, baking paper, small bowl, knife

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How to make your cake;

1. Pre heat the oven to 160°c and line your baking tin with baking paper

2. Begin by making the caramel sauce. Add all the caramel ingredients, except the vanilla, to a small bowl and heat in the microwave for two minutes until melted

3. Stir the caramel, then heat again for another two minutes. The mixture should now be starting to bubble. Stir again, taking care as the the mixture will be very hot

4. Heat again for another two minutes to thicken the sauce. The sauce will thicken further as your stir it and it cools. Stir in the vanilla powder and then set aside until needed

5. Peel your apples and cut into thin slices

6. Pour half of the caramel sauce into the baking paper lined cake tin and spread evenly over the base

7. Arrange your apple slices on top of the caramel. You can do this in a pattern or just cover the bottom of the tin with apple - it will taste delicious either way!

8. Pour the second half of the caramel on top, then move on to making the sponge

9. Add all the dry ingredients into the bowl, flour, sugar, baking powder, vanilla and spices, and give them a quick whisk together

10. Add the wet ingredients, oil, soya milk and apple cider vinegar, and whisk again until there are no large lumps. Just whisk until everything is combined and be careful not to overmix

11. Pour the sponge batter into the baking tin over the top of the caramel and apple layer. Try not to disturb the apple slices if you have arranged them into a pattern

12. Bake for around 40-45 minutes until turning golden and a cocktail stick comes out clean

13. Once baked, set the cake tin on a cooling rack for around 20-30 minutes to let the cake slightly cool and firm up a little

14. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the cake tin. Then, take a large plate and place it on top, gently flip the whole thing over and lift the cake tin off to reveal your yummy cake! Don't forget to remove any baking paper

15. Serve slightly warm with ice cream or custard or leave to fully cool

Tips & Tricks!

• I always use PME cake tins. This is my 8" tin; https://amzn.to/4aIdVUU

• You could swap out the apple in this recipe for pretty much any sort of fruit to make different flavoured upside down cakes

• Don't be tempted to leave the cake to fully cool in the tin, as the caramel will set too much and it will be very tricky to get the cake neatly out of the tin

• If you don't like the spices in the sponge, just leave them out and only add the vanilla powder

• I like to use pre-cut baking paper circles for ease but you could of course draw around the tin and cut out your own; https://amzn.to/4rUC1Cy

• To make your cake gluten free, use gluten free plain flour and add 1g of xantham powder for every 100g of flour. It doesn’t sound like much but it makes such a difference to the sponge texture!

• These are my mixing bowls - https://amzn.to/489iB6s