Easy Apple Upside Down Cake recipe made with fresh sweet apples, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, jaggery, oil, lemon juice, ground spices and leavening ingredients. The recipe is also eggless and vegan.
Grease or line a 7 to 7.5 inches round cake pan or tin. You can even line the pan with parchment paper.
Preheat the oven now at 180 degrees C/356 degrees F for 15 minutes.
Rinse, peel, core and slice the apples.
Lining cake pan with apples
Layer the apple slices neatly on the base of the cake pan/tin in single or double layer.
Sprinkle cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder on the apple layer. Also sprinkle a few drops of lemon juice, so that the apples do not discolor. Sprinkling lemon juice is an optional step.
Keep this cake pan/tin aside.
Making apple upside down cake
In a bowl, take all the dry ingredients - whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, powdered jaggery, vanilla powder and cinnamon powder.
Mix them well with a wired whisk. If using vanilla essence or extract then add it when adding lemon juice.
Add the water and oil, stir and mix to get a lump-free batter. Do not over-mix.
Now add the lemon juice and mix well again.
Pour the batter all over on an even layer over the apple slices in the prepared cake pan/tin.
Bake at 180 degrees C/356 degrees F for 45 to 55 minutes in the preheated oven.
When cooled to room temperature, remove the cake gently. Serve the Eggless Apple Upside Down Cake with tea or coffee or as an after meal dessert.
Notes
Instead of jaggery, add ¾ cup powdered jaggery (or ¾ cup brown sugar or ¾ cup raw sugar or ½ cup confectioner's sugar or powdered sugar.
The cake can be made entirely with all-purpose flour. In this case, add ¾ cup water instead of 1 cup water.
Organic powdered jaggery does not have any impurities and is good while preparing cakes, muffins or even Indian sweets.
Keep in mind that the time taken to bake the cake varies from oven to oven. It can take more or less time in your oven. So, keep a check.
I suggest to line your cake pan/tin with a parchment paper as this helps to easily remove the cake without letting the apple slices stick to the bottom of the cake pan/tin.
Some whole wheat flours may have a strong nutty flavor which comes through while baking. Adding a few more flavorings and ground spices will help mask this typical taste and flavor.
Ensure not to over-mix the cake batter as this might result in a dense and doughy texture after baking. Since this recipe uses whole wheat flour, over-mixing can result in the formation of gluten strands in the batter.
The sweetness in the cake batter can be adjusted as per your preferences. You can also use raw sugar or confectioner's sugar or powdered sugar instead of jaggery powder.
Note that the approximate nutrition info is for 1 slice of the cake.