upside down miso caramel apple cake

upside down miso caramel apple cake

• 13 Jun 2022

Do you remember Poh in an episode of Master Chef willing her upside down miso caramel apple cake to cook in time? I've been thinking about that cake ever since and with miso in the fridge and apples in the fruit bowl, the time had come to create my own version.

First I needed to find a miso caramel recipe, which I found here then I topped the apple slices with my standard butter cake recipe using some almond meal as well as flour. Once baked, let the cake cool for 15 minutes or so before inverting, otherwise the still warm cake might crack.

 

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm square or round cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Upside down miso caramel apple cake

Caramel
135g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
1 tbs white miso paste
2 small red apples (250g), cored

Cake
125g (4½ oz) unsalted butter

110g (½ cup) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
¾ cup (115g) self-raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
¼ cup (25g) almond meal

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease, flour and line the base of a deep 17cm x 17cm cake pan with baking paper.

Cut 1 and 1/2 apples crosswise into thin slices, reserving the remaining apple. To make the caramel, place the sugar and 2 tbs (40ml) water in a heavy-based saucepan; stir over low heat, without boiling, until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, without stirring. Boil over medium heat, without stirring, for 6 minutes or until light golden-caramel in colour.

Combine the miso paste and 3 tsp water in a small bowl and mix until smooth; stir into the caramel which will spit and bubble so take care. Stir until smooth - you may need to add a little more boiling water at this stage to achieve this. Pour the miso caramel evenly over base of cake pan. Arrange the reserved apple slices in rows on the caramel in the pan. Set to one side.

 

Grate the remaining apple which should yield ¼ cup. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix until combined well. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and stir through the almond meal. Add the flour mixture to make a soft batter, then stir through the grated apple. 

Carefully spoon the batter over the apple taking care not to disturb the slices then smooth the surface. Place the cake pan on an oven tray then bake for 35-40 minutes at 180°C, conventional or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil if cake starts over browning during baking. 

 

 

Leave cake in the pan for 15 minutes. Run a butter knife or metal spatula around the cake before turning it out onto a plate, making sure you scrape up all the reserved caramel. You may need to loosen the caramel with a little boiling water then gently brush over the apples. Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of cream, labne or creme fraiche.

 

 

I shared the cake with my neighbours and the cake received glowing reviews. That miso caramel is something a bit special, that's for sure.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen. 

Bye for now, 

Jillian