Upsidedown Apple Ginger bread cake

At the beginning of October I was woken up early on a Saturday morning and told to get dressed in something warm but comfortable and to hurry up! With so little info I was both curious and confused but I decided to go with it and let my boyfriend take me on an adventure.... About 30 minutes later we arrived at Hillview Farm in Gillette, NJ. After a tractor ride out to the field, we focused on finding apples that would stand up to baking....of course while sampling plenty of apples on the way! We spent a great day out on the farm picking different types of apples and enjoying the orchard and came home with a basketful ready to cook up.

I had done some work researching some apple recipes and wanted something different than the standard apple pie or apple crisp so when I saw this gingerbread cake recipe I couldn't resist! For this recipe, I used mainly Cortland apples and I felt that it came out perfectly however any firm, tart apple would be a good choice. Also check out some variations on this recipe made with pears! 

Upside Down Apple Gingerbread Cake
4 tbsp butter
1/2 c dark brown sugar
salt
4 apples-  peeled, cored and cut into about 12 slices each

1/2 c butter, at room temperature
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1/3 c dark molasses
1/3 c honey
1 c 0% plain greek yogurt
2 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

1) Arrange your apples in a greased pan (I used a rectangle silicone brownie pan but a round cake pan would work fine)
2) Make the caramel but melting the butter in a small saucepan. Add the brown sugar and let it bubble over medium while stirring.
3) After a few minutes add the salt and mix together and pour over the apple slices
4) In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
5) In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients (egg, molasses, honey and yogurt)
6) In a 3rd bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, spices)
7) Into the original butter/sugar mixture, alternate additions of 1/3 of the dry and 1/3 of the wet mixing completely between each addition
8) Pour the batter on top of the apples and place in a preheated 325 F oven for 45 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
9) Let cool for 20+ minutes and then invert onto a plate to serve (I cooled mine in the pan overnight and inverted right before serving as I took it to a party) - be ware that some of the caramel will drip so be sure to have some room on the serving plate to catch the drips!