I’m so excited about sharing this!

This recipe, yes. I love upside-down cake. Especially peach upside-down cake. And I have been craving peaches lately. I can’t wait for them. Since peaches aren’t ready yet though, I decided to try an  upside-down cake with apples. Not only do apples top this cake, there are apples throughout the entire thing, too. It’s so good!

But! What I’m really excited about is the skillet part of this cake. I made the cake in a skillet!

I showed you last Saturday that I received a cast iron skillet as a sweet + thoughtful gift from Greg’s mom and stepdad. It’s just so perfect. I have been wanting a cast iron skillet and never did I dream that I would get an authentic, beautiful antique one! It is just so exciting!

When I got it, Greg asked me what would be the first thing I made in my skillet. Sooo many options ran through my head and I just didn’t know how I would choose.

The decision seemed so important and I felt like I needed to put so much thought into it.

Well, this apple cake just happened. I wanted cake. I wanted apple cake.

And I can say, I will always be happy that it is the first thing I made in my beloved cast iron skillet. 🙂

I will always appreciate beautifully decorated cakes. But there is something comforting about throwing ingredients into a skillet, letting it bake, and then serving it without much thought to decorating. I would call it rustic. A cake that is “rough around the edges.” Beautiful, but in a very different way.

And the taste. Oh my goodness the taste. I based the batter off of this cake from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I substituted apples for carrots and made a few other minor changes. It is such a good base recipe. It’s perfectly spiced, so moist. The brown sugar/butter/apple upside down part of this cake is soft, sweet and the perfect topping for the already soft cake.

If you make this, be ready to want to dig in, right after the skillet leaves the oven.

Ingredients

1  3/4 cup brown sugar, divided
4 tablespoons butter
3 large apples, 1 sliced thin and 2 diced small
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup yogurt
1/2 cup milk (I used almond)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350*. Place a cast iron skillet on the stove over medium-low heat and add the butter. Let the butter melt and then sprinkle 3/4 cup of the brown sugar over the butter. Place the one thinly sliced apple on top of the brown sugar and melted butter. Turn stove heat to the lowest setting and let sit while you prepare the cake batter.

In a bowl, beat the remaining 1 cup of brown sugar and vegetable oil. Add in yogurt and milk and beat well. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well between the addition. Add in the vanilla and beat well to combine.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. With a spoon, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones. Gently fold in the golden raisins, chopped pecans and diced apples until everything is just combined.

Spoon the batter over the butter/sugar/apples in the skillet. Smooth the top with a spatula. Place the skillet in the oven and bake 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Serve and enjoy!

*Notes:
-If you don’t like raisins, feel free to leave them out!
-If the batter is too thick at the end, add another splash of almond milk at the end, right before you add the batter to the skillet. It should be thick, but stir-able.
-Baking time could vary. I made this once and it took a little under 35 minutes and another time it took a full 45 minutes.
-I used an 8-inch cast iron skillet. It developed a very thick cake. A larger skillet would definitely work too.