Apple and Pear Upside Down Cake

Sometimes you make a recipe just once, either because it’s elaborate and time-consuming, or because it simply wasn’t very good. Other recipes are bake over and over again because the results are too fantastic not to make again. The latter category is where this cake falls. I first made it one evening after dinner when Alex requested a post-dinner snack. (A long run will do that to a person.) I immediately thought about a “French apple cake” because it’s very quick and the kitchen was already clean. My search led me to this recipe from America’s Test Kitchen. The only elaborate part is the apple topping (to which I added pears), but the batter comes together quickly.

I used pears the first time I made it. They were there and turning brown, and for whatever reason I hadn’t gotten around to poaching them like I had initially planned. While I can’t pick out the pears in the topping, I want to believe that it adds more flavor than just apples alone.

Most recipes I found, including this one, slices the apples, but after trying it that way once and trying it again with cubed fruit, I prefer the cubes. Besides being easier to slice, the cubes caramelized more evenly than the slices.

Half of the chopped fruit gets caramelized briefly in butter. I tend to add the apples first as they are firmer than the pears.

Finally, the remaining fruit, along with brown sugar and lemon juice, are added and cooked until the topping gurgles and thickens slightly.

Springform pans scare me. Why, you ask? Because it’s not a solid pan, there’s always a chance that liquid will seep out no matter how tight the two pieces are latched together. That is you see happened here. I quickly took a similar sized cake pan out from under the cupboard, buttered the inside, and poured in the apple-pear topping, noting that it came about halfway up the sides.

The topping is tasty, but it’s the cake that really does it for me. This quick cake is easy to prepare, adding to the simplicity of this recipe. But for being so quick to put together, the taste is incredible. There is brown sugar, butter, and sour cream. Although the sour cream doesn’t taste noticeably tangy, it gives the cake a moist, velvety texture that’s incredibly good. The caramel notes from the brown sugar ties into the apple topping and gives it even more flavor.

Back to the pan… There is a reason why the recipe calls for a 2-inch deep cake pan. There was no going back, so I placed the cake pan on a baking sheet and hoped for the best. Fortunately, it didn’t spill over at all!

This is fall in all it’s glory, people. If you can get in-season apples, please do so. I suggest making this cake anytime you find yourself craving a dessert without all the hullabaloo of a regular cake. Perfect for lazy weekends or time-crunched evenings. Perfectly tasty.