Tarte Tatin: Upside Down Apple Spice Cake

Simple three-wicked Pumpkin Spice candles that make any house smell like a bakery.

And my all time favorite nail polish color–Big Apple Red from OPI.  Which, when you think about it, seems extremely fitting given that I baked my first apple upside down cake (what the French call “Tarte Tatin”) while wearing it.

Tarte Tatin is the easiest way to bridge summer with fall–instead of making your traditional Pineapple Upside Down Cake, slice cinnamon & spice flavored apples into the bottom of your cake and voila! A fall-themed spice cake that’s easy and clearly delicious.

Tarte Tatin

Rumor has it that Tarte Tatin was a “mistake” when, one day in 1898, a French baker named Stéphanie Tatin was over-worked and burnt her glazed apples for an apple pie.  Trying to save the dish, she plopped the pastry on top of the apples and baked the dish whole in an oven.  After flipping the dessert onto a plate, she procured what we all know as Tarte Tatin today.  True? Maybe not.  But the story is as charming as the dessert.  Serve with mulled cider for an even bigger apple fix or dark French Roasted Coffee for a decadent breakfast.  My variation takes its queue from Gwyneth Paltrow’s blog Goop, here.

Ingredients:

* softened butter for greasing pan

* 3 teaspoons cinnamon

* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

* 1/4 teaspoon cloves

* 2 Granny Smith apples, sliced thin & cored

* 2 cups all purpose flour

* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 1 1/2 sticks sweet butter

* 1/4 cup honey

* 1 tablespoon almond extract

* 3 eggs beaten at room temperature

* 1/2 cup milk

* 1/2 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon sugar

1.) Preheat oven to 350F.  In a small bowl, combine 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon with 1 tablespoon sugar.  Sprinkle over greased baking dish.

2.) Meanwhile, slice 2 Granny Smith apples thinly and spread over bottom of pan in overlapping circular rounds.  Use leftover pieces to fill in the gaps.

3.) In a standing mixer, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, almond extract, spices, baking powder, and salt.  Now, combine dry ingredients with wet by adding the following ingredients to your mixer in installments: 1/3 of the flour (3/4 of a cup) to the bowl, then 1/2 of milk (1/4 cup), then 1/3 of the flour (3/4 of a cup), 1/2 of milk (1/4 cup), and the remaining 1/3 of the flour (3/4 of cup).  Scrape down sides and mix one last time.  Pour batter of apples and smooth surface.

4.) Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

5.) Allow cake to rest for 10 minutes and flip onto a plate.  Enjoy! Makes 8-10 servings.

–Helana Brigman

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