I’ve been looking for a way to bake apples and a cake together, and I was inspired by a recipe I read at La Tartine Gourmande. I use almond flour, however you can substitute your flour of choice – the amount of flour necessary may vary depending on the type of flour you use. It came out so moist and delicious, my son asked to have just the cake again, or add other things to it. I can imagine putting raisins and walnuts in the cake, or eating it alone as a pound cake. In any case, this cake recipe is definitely a keeper.
I’ve modified this recipe since originally posting it in order to remove some moisture from the cake. I’ve lowered the amount of honey I add (from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup), and I use dripped yogurt now. Also, to insure the center bakes fully, I’ve lowered the temperature, and I bake it a bit longer.
How to drip yogurt
I use dripped yogurt in this recipe quite often. To drip yogurt (also referred to as greek yogurt for it’s thickness), I place a strainer in a saucepan, then place a paper towel (or coffee filter) in the strainer, and finally place the yogurt in the paper towel. I put the saucepan top on and let it drip away, sometimes over night in the refrigerator. The longer you drip it, the more water drips out (I know that sounds obvious, but I thought I’d confirm that fact and encourage you to drip it as long as possible).
Comfy Belly
Upside Down Apple Cake
Ingredients
- 4 apples (I used a mixture of granny and braeburn)
- 2 tablespoons of butter for the apple mixture
- 3 tablespoons of butter for the batter (you can remove to lower the fat content)
- 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/3 cup of honey (plus 2 tablespoons for the apple mixture)
- 1/2 cup of yogurt (I use dripped yogurt to remove some moisture from the cake)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 2 eggs
- pinch of salt (in the cake batter)
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 2 cups of almond flour
Preparation
- Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F.
- Peel and slice apples. Slice them at equal width, take the seeds out and the core pieces.
- Place the apples, cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of honey in a large frying pan and cook apples 5 minutes, until just slightly tender.
- In a bowl, blend yogurt, eggs, 1/3 cup of honey, and vanilla together. Next, add 3 tablespoons of melted butter and blend well.
- Add all the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and pinch of salt) to the wet mixture, and blend well.
- In a buttered baking pan (I also add a circle cut-out of parchment paper to the bottom of my pan) place the apples on the bottom. Next, pour the batter over the apples until covered.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the center is baked and starting to brown. The top will be starting to brown and a toothpick will come out clean. Cool completely and turn over on to a plate.
- I store the cake in the refrigerator for several days while it disappears.
You might also like:
Dear Erica,
Thanks you so much for sharing your beautiful website with us. It is absolutely gorgeous! I am going to make the apple cake tonight, so much more to see and do. Wish we lived closer, would love to the SCD yogurt in grocery stores. We can start our own business. Want to try the mango pops also. Better get pack to reading.
Bravo!!!! Great Job!!!! Happy and Healthy New Year to you and your beatiful family.
Jo Ann
Thanks Jo Ann! Best wishes, Erica.
this recipe looks so beautiful! i really enjoy your blog. i can’t have dairy, do you think non dairy yogurt in place of dairy yogurt, and coconut in place of butter would work here? i’m planning on making this cake today!
thanks for sharing any tips,
liz
Thanks, Liz!
Yes, I think a dairy substitute would work. The dairy adds some moisture and protein elasticity to help the cake stay together. I’m guessing you mean coconut oil or coconut butter, which I think is fine as well. Good luck, and let us know if it works out well.
i have made this twice now, and it turned out perfectly both times. -once with dairy and once using coconut yogurt/butter.
i can’t tell you what a beautiful recipe this is and how much of a hit it’s been in my house and at work. i plan to make it again already very soon. it may be my favorite cake recipe!!
the batter is perfectly sweet, moist and tender, and the syrup from the apples soaks in to the cake just enough to give it a little added tart sweetness.
thank you for sharing the recipe!
Yumm! I want to try that. The coconut butter sounds great. Good to know that it worked. Thanks for sharing!
Do you use an 8 inch cake pan?
Hi Janet, I usually use two 8 inch pans, but a 9 inch would work as well (just a different size cake of course).
This looks like a heavenly recipe. I am boderline diabetic & would love to have the nutritional info…particulary the carb content…or an approximate. Your web site & recipes are creative. Thank you.
Hi Donna, I wouldn’t know how to access the nutritional info so that it would be accurate, however you can probably figure it out based on the separate ingredients. I would search a website, such as this one: http://www.nutritiondata.com/.
I made this cake for a coworker’s birthday. Everyone loved it!! I used brown sugar instead of the honey on the apples. I also used coconut butter instead of yogurt. DELICIOUS!!
ok, now I have to try it with coconut butter.
So this recipe makes two 8 inch cakes?
Janet, the recipe makes one, good-size, 8 or 9 inch cake. When I use it to make a layer cake, I double the recipe.
I just made this yesterday…YUM!Thanks for sharing!
So delicious! I added raisins to the apple mixture and made up a little yogurt sauce made of thinned yogurt, honey, and a sprinkle of fresh nutmeg.
Thank you!!
Hi Can you possibly tell me how to substitute either coconut flour or almond flour in a recipe for a cherry nut cake that I have. I have been making for years and everyone in my house loves this cake. My daughter was recently diagnosed with hashimotos and I have read that a gluten free diet will help her. I’d like to still be able to make a version of this cake for her bday. Thanks
Tracy, why don’t you post it here and I’ll take a peek at it.
Oh my gosh! This cake is so good! I want to make another one right now because I know it is going to be gone quick. I did not have yogurt so I used sour cream instead and it is so delicious! Before reading your blog (and Elana’s),I NEVER would have had the “courage” to substitute an ingredient. I love cooking with almond flour too. For the first time in my life I feel like I can actually cook. Thank you!
Tam, same here. It’s empowering to make something with your “own” ingredients and it comes out well. Power to you!
Thank you so much for posting these recipes and adding websites to find the ingredients. My son starting the SCD three weeks ago – it’s been tough – especially with his birthday looming just a few weeks away!
I’ve made this twice this week using pears and spices in the batter… Delicious! thanks.
Yes – it goes great with almost any fruit – pears, peaches, apricots.
I want to make this to take with me to dinner tonight to a non SCDers home but I do not have almond flour.. I have coconut flour though.. How much coconut flour would I want to use in place of the almond flour? Thank you so much!!
It would be a different recipe all together. I suggest you use the coconut cupcake recipe (vanilla cupcakes) to make a cake.
Hi,
This does look wonderful. I am writing to ask about the specific cake in your photo, and bow it came to be so beautiful! It looks like you carefully arranged one layer of apples on the bottom of the pan–? Are all the apples in the recipe slice this way, which I
guess would make a sort of apple layer cake. Or are the rest in smaller pieces?
RSVP!
thank you for this recipe– am gearing up to try it. Just opened a new 5 lb bag of Almond Flour. I might add a few drops Almond Flavor.
Ruth
I’m never too careful, but I did make sure to cover the entire bottom of the pan with apples. They are whole slices though – complete circles. But don’t worry about being too careful.