Upside down Apple Cake – Cooking with Kids -They LOVE the idea of this! Along with Marches by John Philip Sousa

We had a HUGE crop of apples this year – baskets of them. So I was racking my brain trying to come up with recipes. I have already shared a super easy apple cobbler in former posts with you. This upside down cake is almost as easy – and the idea of ‘upside down’ is very appealing to 3 and 5 year old children. We had a ‘standing on your hands or head’ session before baking this and again while it was baking we did some somersaults and other gymnastic moves as well as some serious marching, to pass the time, to great marching music by Sousa!

Listen awhile – this will get you up and about! Here are a couple of marches including The Washington Post March by John Philip Sousa; he composed 136 marches. Did you know that he was originally a violin player? However he learnt to conduct orchestras in parallel with military bands. His music is still standard repertoire in any military band.  FABULOUS!

Upside down apple cake

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup butter cut up
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 8 small apples – cored, peeled and sliced into halves
• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinammon
• 2/3 cup 2% milk
• 1/4 cup of butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Whipped cream or icecream are optional ingredients.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Place 1/3 cup butter in a 9x9x2-inch baking pan. Place in oven 5 minutes or until butter melts. Sprinkle brown sugar over butter; stir.
3. Arrange 10 apple halves in mixture, cut sides down. The children can do this.
4. Bake in oven 10 to 15 minutes or until bubbly.
5. Peel and core remaining apples. Grate these apples.
6. In bowl combine flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, ginger, and cinnamon. The children will love doing this! Expect some tasting!
7. Add shredded apple, milk, 1/4 cup butter, egg, and vanilla. Kids will love putting these ingredients together and it is a good opportunity for them to learn about measures.
8. Beat with your mixer on low until combined; beat on medium 1 minute. I let my grandkids turn the mixer on and off – beware little fingers!
9. Spoon over apples, spread evenly. Children love using the spreader – and I have one for each of them.
10. Bake 35 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
11. Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Loosen edges; turn the cake upside down onto platter. The way to do this is to put the cake plate on the top of the pan right side up, then holding the plate and the pan firmly, flip the pan over and your cake should invert neatly onto the cake plate ( we hope!). This takes a little practice but it should not be too difficult. What is the worst thing that could happen? The cake slips off and you put it back on! No worries.
12. Spoon any topping in pan over top.
13. Cool 20 minutes; serve with whipped cream or icecream.