Tangy, sweet, spicy, gooey, and super-duper scrumptious. For the best results, spring for the boiled cider: this tasty syrup is the essence of apples. Use it in all your apple desserts, atop oatmeal or ice cream or in yogurt or smoothies. It stays fresh forever in the fridge.

Ingredients: Topping

• 3 medium apples (Granny Smith, Yellow Delicious, or Gala)
• 4 Tab butter
• ¾ c light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 Tab boiled cider or thawed apple juice concentrate
• 2 Tab cinnamon
• ½ c light corn syrup
• ½ pt whipping cream – whipped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Lightly grease a 10” round 2 inch deep cake pan.
3. Line the bottom with parchment and butter the parchment.
4. Slice the top, including the stem, off one of the apples and set it aside before peeling and slicing the rest of the apples into ¼ inch thick wedges.
5. Place the apple top, stem down in the middle of the pan and overlap the rest of the apple wedges around it.
6. Prepare the topping by heating the butter, sugar, cider, cinnamon and corn syrup together over low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
7. Pour ½ c of the syrup mixture into the prepared pan and set the rest aside.

Ingredients: Cake

• ¼ c vegetable oil
• 1 c light brown sugar
• 2 Tab boiled cider or thawed apple juice concentrate
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ginger
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ c flour
• 2 medium apples, peeled and finely chopped
• 3/4 c chopped pecans

To make the cake:

1. Beat the oil, brown sugar, cider/apple juice, eggs, salt, spices together for 2 minutes at medium speed.
2. Mix the flour with the baking soda, and stir it into the batter.
3. Add the chopped apple and nuts, and mix until just blended.
4. Drop scoops of the batter atop the apples in the pan, gently spreading to cover.
5. Bake the cake for 35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean.
6. Remove the cake from the oven, and run a thin spatula around the edge to loosen.
7. Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
8. Then turn it out onto a serving plate, bottom side up.
9. Scrape out any sauce that remains and spread it over the cake.
10. Reheat the reserved topping. If butter starts to separate as you reheat, add water by the teaspoon and stir until the butter rejoins the rest of the sauce.
11. Pour the sauce over the cake.
12. Serve cake warm or at room temperature with whipped cream.

Serves: 10 – 12

Source: King Arthur Flour