Book a Big Green Egg Demo or get a quote - 07446 960303

Apple Upside Down Cake

Name: Apple Upside Down Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 65 min
Ingredients: 50 g butter; 100 g light brown sugar; 2 tbsp Calvados (or brandy); 2 apple (large, peeled, cored, and sliced); 100 g soft light brown sugar; 100 g butter (softened); 2 eggs; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 2 tbsp milk; 175 g self-raising flour; pinch salt

No ratings yet

A beautifully rich dessert with deep caramelised apples and a hint of Calvados (apple brandy). The cake is moist, buttery, and perfectly balanced between sweetness and gentle boozy warmth — wonderful served warm with crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream.

Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1 5

Servings: 6 servings

Course: Baking, Dessert

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

Topping

50 g butter
100 g light brown sugar
2 tbsp Calvados or brandy
2 apple(s) large, peeled, cored, and sliced

Cake

100 g soft light brown sugar
100 g butter softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk
175 g self-raising flour
pinch salt

Equipment

Grill Temperature

Surfaces

An icon of the Big Green Egg ConvEGGtor, which used to be called a plate setter

Method

Set up your Big Green Egg for an indirect cook at 180°C. To do this you'll need to put in your ConvEGGtor feet up, stainless steel grid on top and a baking stone on top of that.
In a frying pan, melt the butter and sugar for the topping. Cook until the sugar dissolves, the caramel will be bubbly and golden.
Be careful as you add the calvados/brandy as the caramel will spit and simmer for 1 minute.
Pour the caramel into a lined 20 cm tin and arrange apple slices neatly over it.
Cream the butter and sugar together, then beat in eggs, vanilla, and milk. I usually add a tbsp of flour when I add any liquid to stop the mixture from curdling.
Fold in the remaining flour and salt until combined.
Spoon the mixture gently over the apples.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes at 180°C. We set the time for 35 minutes but it wasn't quite ready so we baked for a further 10 minutes and it was perfect.
You can now either use a skewer to see if it comes out clean when poked into the cake, or my preferred method, use a Thermapen to check if the internal temperature is 95°C.
Place on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.
Then carefully invert the cake onto a serving plate bigger than the tin. Remove the parchment paper.
Serve warm with créme fraîche or ice cream.

Notes

Tips:

Ensure the caramel isn’t overcooked — it should be amber, not dark brown.

Use firm apples like Braeburn or Pink Lady for best texture.

I greased the side of the tin with butter and flour before lining the bottom of the tin with parchment paper. I used the tin as a guide by drawing round it. I then cut the circle about 3cm bigger so that I could then cut from the edge to the line of the circle, again about every 3cm. This ensured that once I had lined the tine there was some paper coming up the sides to stop the caramel from leaking during the cook.