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Thank you for sharing this recipe! I made it for my mum and sister tonight and we all love it 💜💜 I’ll definitely make this again 😍
Madi
I’m not even going to say anything today, because, whew.
Today I’m back at work after a delicious weekend at an apple orchard in Washington, and I think it’s pretty obvious that I’d really rather be sleeping on a pillow of this cake than putting on the ol’ black dress pants and hanging a five-point scale on a lanyard around my neck and saying things like “show five” in my pretend calm voice all day.
Personal cake day, I think that’s what they call it, and I need it ASAP.
It’s only appropriate that this recipe would come after an apple-palooza weekend and it’s only appropriate that it is an original recipe from the queen of all desserts SBA: Sally’s Baking Addiction.
If you have spent three seconds on Pinterest then I think you probably know this girlie. She’s a butt-kickin dessert baker who has worked her way out of her day job and into a job as a full time food blogger and cookbook writer because she loves you. YEAH SAL. It gives me chills. She’s amazing.
I made this cake to impress Steph when we had a dinner double date last week, and impress it did. I accidentally changed the recipe a leetle bit (distraction central) with things like salted butter, no nuts, a reversing of order of ingredients into the pan, and regular caramel turning into SALTED caramel with that sea salt on top. Sally, thanks for awesome recipe inspo. Steph, thanks for bonding over salted caramel apple upside down cake like food bloggies do. How do normal people bond again? I forget.
And friends, thanks for reading and showing Sally some love today, because we love salted caramel apple upside down cake, don’t we? ♥
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Salted Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 8–10 1x
Description
This Salted Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake is covered with a top layer of homemade salted caramel and loaded with thinly slices apples.
Ingredients
For the sauce and topping
- 2 cups very thinly sliced apples (3–4 apples)
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the cake
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- Sea salt for topping
Instructions
- Generously grease a round 9-inch cake pan. Slice the apples with a mandoline to get them super thin, like paper. Or if that’s not possible, as close to paper as possible. 🙂
- Sauce: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and vanilla. Keep over medium heat and cook for about 3 minutes until smooth and thickened slightly. Pour the caramel into the greased cake pan and top with the apple slices. Sally does this the other way around but I loved how it turned out with the caramel on the outside.
- Cake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Beat the remaining butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add the eggs and milk and beat until incorporated. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. Pour the cake on top of the caramel and apple layer in the cake pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes (Sally says 10 minutes is just right, and mine came out of the pan perfectly at 10). Invert onto a plate and tap the top until the cake comes out onto the plate. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve with vanilla ice cream. Die and go to caramel apple heaven. The end.
- Prep Time: 45 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: caramel apple upside down cake, apple upside down cake, caramel apple cake
Fall in pie form and that makes me one happy girl!
Just made this! Doubled it in a 12 inch round pan and baked at 300. It looks amazing! Thank you
Yay, glad to hear it!
Oh yea, I know Sally! The girl is a rockstar in the dessert world if you ask me! She kills it every time! This upside down cake looks just so amazing salted caramel all over the gooey caramelized apples? Holy moly, YUM!
Salted Caramel=always the right decision. You don’t mind if this cake and I step outside for some alone time do you? (PS. Sally is awesome! Great shout out)
Jealous that you got to meet Steph, such a sweetheart! This looks fabulous.
isn’t she, though? we’re practically neighbors! #winning
I don’t know what went wrong but mine came it wya under cooked :/ the caramel was like liquid and the center of the cake was just so mushy but the apples weren’t soft enough to slice through with a butter knife. I even baked it an extra 15 minutes. I don’t think I’ll make this again.
Sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. We appreciate the feedback!
This is what happened to mine exactly, mushy and under cooked.
Such a sweet post! Love Sally, and whoa, this cake!!! Gorgeous.
This looks like an utterly, melt in your mouth, yummy in the tummy cake. I want to plant my face into that topping right now, just because that sauce looks so darn good.
What a perfect fall recipe. Delish!
This looks like a wonderful recipe for fall! I really need to try this one……….yum!
Oh seriously yummy. This cake is making me happy just looking at it.
This cake looks unbelievably good, really gooey sticky and delicious.
Lindsay! This is my favorite cake recipe EVER. Probably my favorite recipe on my blog. And I can’t wait to make it again in a few weeks when I visit my parents- yup, they love it too. I just LOVE what you did with it. And now I have to try a salted caramel version. 🙂
I want to personally thank you for such a kind and thoughtful shout out. I read this post while I was on the elliptical this morning and I giggled and smiled and the man on the machine next to me definitely thought I was cray. Oh well! I am so touched by every word you said and that you took the time to try out one of my recipes. When you tweeted me for one of MY recipes the other week, I was so excited!!!! Love you guys and everything you do. xoxo
Thank you again!
right back at ya girl!
That looks amazing and perfect for the cold fall days! Yummy!!
Mmmm such a fabulous cake. Love salted caramel anything!
I don’t think apples have ever looked better!
I love an upside down anything! When I make an upside down apple cake, I like to add nuts such as walnuts or pecans.
http://liveitinerantly.com
Total impressed-ness. Thanks so much for sharing this magic with us — we may have to do a repeat soon so I can devour another slice (or five) 😉
LOOOOVE SBA! She’s adorable and her recipes are insanely delicious. I love your version of this apple cake. It looks perfect for fall!
Oh heck yeah, there is everything right with the cake!
Wow this is impressive! I’m going apple picking next weekend and know just what to do with all of the apples I’ll get 🙂
Oh holy goodness. That looks incredible! Salted caramel makes anything at least 68% better – I should know, I’ve done the legwork 😉 I HAVE to try this recipe!
And I was worried about what to do with the latest batch of apples we just got. We have only been apple picking 3 times this fall, wait fall is only 3 weeks old (if that). Thanks for the well timed inspiration.
Loving those layers of apple on top! Just gorgeous!!
Had high hope’s for this, based on comments. Looked great when it came out of the oven. I followed all directions, but it ended up quite undercooked. There was no mention of testing for doneness, so… sigh…
So sorry to hear this didn’t turn out for you, Amy. 😕 Thanks for sharing this feedback with us – we really appreciate it!
Oh yum! Sounds like I need to make this.
Normal people bond over salted caramel… The ones who don’t are the not normal ones! Love what you did with this cake 🙂
You are making me want some apples and I don’t even like them all that much. But with the salted caramel they sound divine.