Baby apple upside-down cakes

The original recipe is in a Donna Hay magazine, issue 2. When I first made it I felt quite disappointed with the result as it was rather bland. Nothing special about it really. Apart from the apple slice on top there was nothing fruity about it at all. As I really like cakes with apple I thought that perhaps I could jazz it up a little bit. I then came up with the idea of adding the chopped apples and the cinnamon. The little cakes were revided. The chopped apples added needed moisture, and the cinnamon..well, to me there is no apple cake without a touch of cinnamon. The result is this lovely little cake, moist and very pretty. Delicious with a cup of tea. I hope you enjoy it as well.

12 teaspoons golden syrup/honey

2 small Pink Lady apples, each cut into 6, 1cm slices

100g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

160g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

120g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup chopped apple

Pre-heat the oven to 180oC. Place 1 full teaspoon of golden syrup in the base of 12 greased ½ cup capacity non-stick muffin tins. Place an apple slice on top of the golden syrup. Trim the slices to fit if necessary.

To make the cake, beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla using an electric mixer for 4-5 minutes or until thick and pale. Fold in the sifted flour, cinnamon and baking powder, and melted butter, until just combined. Throw in the chopped apples and mix just to incorporate the apples. Spoon the mixture over the apple in the tin only up to ¾ of the full measure. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden. Cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the tin.

Don’t worry if the apple stays in the bottom of the pan. Just place it on top of the cake. Spoon the syrup which remains in the bottom of the tin over the apple to drizzle the cake. It goes well with thick cream or vanilla ice cream.