Receta Apple Gingerbread
When I lived back East many years ago, I took my then pre-school daughter apple picking every year. We lived in beautiful New England where apple farms dotted the hillsides.
Every year my little gal and I would layer up and slide on our wellies and go traipsing through apple orchards, picking the succulent juicy apples and filling our buckets. I have vivid memories of my curly blonde haired gal bopping up and down singing and dancing through the orchards while picking apples off the ground instead of off the apple trees.
Of course we never missed the hay ride and hot apple cider served at the barn. I think that might have been my little gals most favorite part of apple picking.
All that apple picking resulted in weeks of apple recipes. Pies, breads, cakes, pancakes, waffles, baked apples, apple sauce and my little gal’s favorite, brown butter apples with her breakfast ham. This was back in the day when I hadn’t a clue how to cook. I faked it most the time and thankfully all that faking resulted in some pretty delicious food. Which is how the brown butter apples and ham came to be.
During one of our apple farm visits I found a little paperback of apple recipes. I’ve used the paperback so often it’s now tattered, torn, splattered and sporting a few coffee spills. I love this little book. Written by a cookbook author and illustrator who hand wrote her cookbooks in calligraphy with the sweetest illustrations. One of my most loved recipes in this book is the Upside Down Apple Gingerbread. I simply call it Apple Gingerbread.
Rich in color and flavor but not overly sweet, this gingerbread deliciously pairs with a cup of coffee or tea. I haven’t altered the recipe too much, although I omit the cloves. The gingerbread is so rich and flavorful I felt it just didn’t need the cloves. However, I’ve kept it in the recipe if you’d like to use ground cloves. There is also a fun twist in this recipe – a 3/4 cup of black coffee, which subtly intensifies the rich flavor of the gingerbread.
Truly an autumn treat that makes you want to gather at the table with family and friends.
Delicious Wishes and Loads of Love,
Karista
Upside Down Apple Gingerbread
Serves 8
Ingredients in order of use
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 2 cups sliced apples
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (I leave this out but feel free to include it)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg
- 3/4 cup hot black coffee
- 1 – 10inch springform pan
Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
Pour 1/4 cup melted butter into a 10″ springform pan. Arrange the apples and sprinkle with the 1/3 cup brown sugar.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup melted butter with molasses, sugar, brown sugar and egg.
In another bowl, mix together the remaining dry ingredients and then add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, alternating with the black coffee.
Pour the batter over the apples.
Bake for about 50 minutes or until the cake is firm to the touch. Cool for 15 minutes before inverting pan and releasing the spring. I baked my cake about 55 minutes. The cake is very moist.
Enjoy!
Recipe from the book “Apples” part of the Country Kitchen Collection written and illustrated by Jean Childress