COVID Upside Down Apple Cake

What do you do when you love to bake, dinner time is a respite and the rare unchanged event from pre-corona days, and you have a 5lb CAN of Abby’s Best Cake Mix? Easy answer: you make cakes.
What is this can of cake mix doing in my home? It was delivered to Rose’s Bounty food pantry. It could not be given away, b/c search as we did, no expiration date was to be found. 
NOTE: you cannot give away food without an expiration date or a passed expiration date at a food pantry. Please, before you give to your local food pantry make sure to check the expiration dates. Truly, we throw out lots of food that has expired. Save us the work and throw it out yourself. 
Knowing I love to bake and the obvious name in common, I was gifted this can. Last night, Jakob and I put it to good use to make an Upside Down Apple Cake. I wish I could share a picture of this delicious cake, but it was gone before I had a chance to snap a shot. It came out of the oven and immediately was devoured. This is a new crowd pleaser!
Cake Ingredients:

• One box of cake mix (either spice, yellow, or white) = 18.25 oz
  
• One stick of butter melted
  
• 1 cup of buttermilk (really buttermilk makes everything better. If you don’t have any buttermilk at home use a combination of sour cream and milk)
  
• Spices: cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, ginger, cloves (only if using white or yellow mix)
  
• 2 eggs
  
• ⅓ cup corn syrup (whatever kind you have)
  

Topping Ingredients:

• ⅓ cup of butter
  
• I cup of brown sugar
  
• 2 tsp cinnamon
  
• 4 apples, peeled and sliced (whatever you have. We used granny smith)
  

You will need a cast iron skillet. I think that is key to make that gooey sugary apple heaven that is the upside down wonder of this cake.

Preparation

1. In your trusty kitchenaid dump the cake mix and add spices. If you are using spice cake mix add a ¼ tsp of cloves and 1 tsp of cinnamon. If you are using a regular cake mix like we did, add the following proportions: 3 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, ½ tsp ginger, ½ tsp allspice, & ¼ tsp cloves. Mix. 
   
2. Add all other cake ingredients. Mix thoroughly.  Trick: when measuring molasses or corn syrup, first oil spray the measuring cup. Your ingredients will slide right out. 
   
3. In a deep cast iron skillet (we used a cast iron pie plate) melt the topping butter over the stove. 
   
4. Next add the brown sugar and cinnamon until mixed well. Be careful not to burn. Should have the consistency of a paste. Turn off heat and set aside.
   
5. Peal, core and slice four apples. Arrange apples on top of brown sugar butter mixture in skillet.
   
6. Pour cake batter mix on top of apples.
   
7. Bake at 350 for 45 to 50 minutes. 
   
8. When the cake comes out of the oven, don’t wait (although you can). Use a knife to gently release the sides from the skillet. Take a large plate and place on top of the skillet. Flip! 
   
9. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream. There will be none left, promise.
   
10. Make sure to scrape all the goodness left over in the skillet and eat standing over the oven while others serve themselves the cake. 
    

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