Follow easy step-by-step, photo illustrated instructions to make this flavor filled Apple Skillet Cake… upside down. It’ll remind you a little of a Caramel Coated Apple with it’s slightly sticky edges and caramel flavors. We’re baking it up in our cast iron skillet and filling the kitchen with the delicious aromas of baked apples and cinnamon. We’ll even tell you how to make a scrumptious Caramel Sauce topping for it. Printable recipe included.
Upside Down Apple Skillet Cake Recipe:
Fall weather is moving in on us here in North Carolina. The North Carolina State Fair is in full swing this week and cooler temperatures have arrived. I’ve made several trips up to the North Carolina Mountains over the past couple of weeks, and the leaves are starting to turn to all those beautiful colors.
While I enjoy seeing the fall colors, I always know that in just a few weeks, the leaves will be all over the ground, and most of the trees will be bare and void of color. It’s almost sad for me, as I truly love Spring and Summer when everything is bursting out in Green. It’s part of life I suppose, and I look forward to what each change of season may bring. Just as long as we don’t get any SNOW this winter, I should be OK.
As I mentioned, I have made several trips up into the Western part of our state over the past couple of weeks. I ventured, just a few days ago, over into Hendersonville, North Carolina. That area has an abundance of Apple Orchards and I knew it was time to pick up on some of those fresh Mountain Apples.
Apples were selling for about 28.00 a bushel at one place I visited. I decided to not get that many and bought a peck of Granny Smith Apples instead for 10.00. I’ll use them to make an Apple Pie, or two, and perhaps a couple of other desserts. I also picked up on a few Golden Delicious and Red Delicious Apples, just to have a few to nibble on.
While I hope to get around to baking up those Apple Pies pretty soon, I opted for something a bit easier today. I love baking in my cast iron skillet and decided to do this Upside Down Apple Skillet Cake. It’s fairly easy to make and not as complicated as all of the photos below might make it look. I hope you’ll decide to give it a try as well.
It certainly reminded me of the State Fair and Caramel Apples once I bit into it. Parts of the apples were sticky, gooey-chewy and I loved it. It had a mild taste of caramel and I quickly decided to whip up a batch of Caramel Sauce to drizzle on top. Man, I almost ate the whole thing myself. It was that good too me.
This is a great dessert to share with the family one night around supper. It only takes 2-3 apples and you can use about any variety you choose. I used Evaporated Milk but regular milk will work just as well. And, who doesn’t love the smell of apples and cinnamon baking in the kitchen? Ready to give it a try? Alright then… Let’s Get Cooking!
Upside Down Apple Skillet Cake Recipe: You’ll need these ingredients.
We’ll start with the batter: Add the sugar called for in the batter section of the recipe into a medium sized mixing bowl.
Add the Sour Cream.
Add the butter. Butter needs to be about room temperature.
Add the Vanilla Extract.
With a mixer on Low speed, cream all the ingredients together.
Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well.
Place a couple of cups of flour in your sifter and sift it into a mixing bowl.
Measure out 1 1/2 cups of the sifted flour. We’re using Self Rising Flour by the way.
Place the measured out Flour in another mixing bowl.
Add the Cornmeal.
Grab a fork and mix these dry ingredients together until well blended.
Now, add some of the flour, about 1/3rd of it, to the creamed sugar mixture. Using the mixer on low speed, mix the flour into the mixture.
Add some of the milk and mix this in with the other ingredients. It’ll only take a couple of seconds with the mixer. Don’t over beat it.
Add the Salt.
Continue to alternate between the flour and milk, mixing together after each addition, until you’ve added it all.
When all the ingredients are incorporated together, set the batter aside.
Add the 3/4 cup of Sugar into a medium sized mixing bowl.
Add the Ground Cinnamon on top.
Grab another fork and mix the Sugar and Ground Cinnamon together.
Wash and peel the Apples.
I have fond memories of watching my Dad use his pocket knife to peel his apples before he ate them. We sold produce from a produce stand in front of our house when I was growing up. Daddy kept lots of apples in the fruit stand each year. We had a man that came from the mountains each year and brought us fresh apples. He drove a pickup truck and it would be loaded down with boxes of apples that he sold throughout our area.
Daddy would carefully peel his apple, making sure he got that peeling off in one long peel. I could never seem to get the hang of it back then, but I think I’ve improved a bit since those days. I just have to concentrate at it.
Slice the apples and remove the core. You’ll want your slices a bit thicker than what I have here. They need to be at least 1/4 inch thick or just a bit thicker. I sliced these pretty thin and it came back to haunt me when I went to remove the cake from the skillet. Thicker slices will probably not stick and cling to the inside of the pan as easily. You can thank me later.
Gently toss the Apple slices in the Cinnamon Sugar you just made. Flip them over and coat each side. Place them on a plate as you get them coated.
Place your cast iron skillet over Medium High heat on your stove top. Once it gets warm, toss in the Four Tablespoons of Butter and let it melt a bit. Once it gets foamy, we’ll add in the Apple slices. Watch it carefully and don’t let the butter burn.
I removed the skillet from the heat to do this part. Fan the Apple slices out all around the outer edge inside the pan. You can get as fancy as you like with this part. It’s up to you.
Continue to fan and layer the slices until you’ve covered the bottom of the skillet with sliced apples. The hard part is trying not to eat the slices once they’ve been dipped in the butter. With that Cinnamon Sugar coating and the melted butter, you’ve got something good enough to eat right there. There’s a lot of butter in the pan and the apple slices seemed to almost be floating in it.
Place back on the stove: Place the filled skillet back on the stove top over Medium Heat. Let the apples simmer for about 1-2 minutes more. Then, remove from heat and add the batter as shown below.
Do this part carefully. Gently spoon some of the batter all around the outer edge of the skillet. Place the spoonfuls of batter right on the middle section of the Apple Slices. Do it gently so you don’t disturb the design you’ve created in the bottom of the skillet with the apples.
Continue to spoon the batter into the skillet until you’ve added it all.
Place the skillet in your oven and let it bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.
Your cake is done when you can insert a wooden toothpick into the cake and pull it out clean. If the toothpick comes out with a few crumbs attached, you need to bake the cake another minute or two longer.
When it’s done, remove the skillet from the oven and set it on a wire rack to cool slightly. Let the cake cool ONLY about 5-10 minutes before trying to turn it over and flip it out. If it gets too cool, it has a greater chance of sticking to the skillet.
Before you try to remove the cake from the skillet, run a butter knife around the inside edges of the pan to loosen the cake edges from the skillet.
Place a serving plate over the top of the skillet. I’m just using a small cutting board that was handy. We’re going to hold all of this together and carefully flip the pan over to remove the cake from the skillet.
Keep the plate or board tight against the top of the skillet and quickly flip it all over. Sit it back down on your counter top.
Your cake should easily release from the skillet. Gently lift up an edge of the skillet to see if it has dropped properly. If the cake refuses to let go, you could try turning it back over and placing it on one of your stove top burners. Heat it up, on Medium heat, for about 1 minute. This will help the sugars soften and might help the cake to release from the pan without any further problems.
Gently lift the skillet from the cake.
I noticed that some of the thinner apple slices stuck to the inside of my skillet. I had to remove them one at a time and try to place them back on my cake. I don’t think you will have this problem if you slices your apples a bit thicker. Fortunately, I think I was able to repair my cake without much problem. I think it kind of looks like a ham with bacon slices on it. Don’t you?
It turned out a bit sticky around the edges but that just made it that much better in my opinion. It was almost like eating a Caramel Apple I thought…. it just needed some Caramel Sauce on top.
So, I took some of the leftover Evaporated Milk and whipped up a batch of Caramel Sauce to drizzle on top. I just about ate the whole thing. Seriously, it was THAT good. It was just too bad I didn’t have any Ice Cream to go with it. Next time though… for sure.
I do hope you like it. Just serve it warm and… Enjoy!
