Grandma’s Cookbook – Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake

 It’s time again for the recipe that caught my attention from the 1940 cookbook my Grandma handed down.  This month I saw a recipe for an Apple Upside-Down Cake.  I changed it up a bit and it was delicious.

Apple Cake - finished

Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake
A twist on a pineapple upside-down cake
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Ingredients
  1. 1/4 cup butter
  2. 1 cup brown sugar
  3. 2 large apples
  4. 1 1/2 cups Spelt flour or flour of your choice
  5. 1/2 tsp salt
  6. 3 tsp baking powder
  7. 1/4 cup butter
  8. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  9. 2 eggs, well beaten
  10. 1 tsp vanilla extract
  11. 1/2 tsp vanilla
  12. 2/3 cup water
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. To make the caramel - Melt 1/4 cup butter in oven proof skillet or baking pan. Add 1 cup of brown sugar and stir until melted. Cool.
  3. Peel, core and slice apples. Place on top of caramel.
  4. Sift flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl. Set aside.
  5. Cream butter with sugar until fluffy.
  6. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.
  7. Add sifted dry ingredients and water, alternately in small amounts, beating well after each addition.
  8. Pour over apples and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.
  9. Turn onto a plate immediately. If this is not done immediately the caramel will harden and the cake won't release from the pan.
  10. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
  11. Makes 1 9-inch cake.
Adapted from The Encyclopedic Cookbook
Adapted from The Encyclopedic Cookbook
Deliciously Inspired http://www.deliciouslyinspired.com/

 
Upside down apple cake - caramel
Melt the butter and sugar in an oven-proof skillet or pan. I found my cast iron pan worked well.

Apple Cake - finished caramel
The finished caramel will look like this. Set aside while prepping the apples.

Apple Cake - sliced apples
Peel, core and slice apples and place on top of caramel.

Apple Cake - batter on top of the apples
Place the batter on top of the apples. Now it’s ready for the oven.

Apple Cake - before flip
Flip onto a serving platter or pan when cake comes out of the oven. Be careful – it’s very hot. But this needs to be done because caramel will harden quickly and once it’s hard the cake won’t release from the pan.

I had never heard of apples being used in this type of cake. Has anyone had it before?

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Grandma’s Cookbook – Roast Beef

With February being the month of L O V E, I gave some serious thought to how I could make my husband feel special.  Now food has always been very important to this man of mine and as I was putting my grocery list together I casually asked him a very important question…. 

Grandma's Cookbook

Would you like me to make a roast beef?  He just looked at me and began nodding his head.   I remembered my grandmother made a wonderful roast beef and wondered if I could learn a trick or two from her cookbook.    One of the recipes used bacon and cayenne; and I was inspired.  Lucky for me – Jeff has just purchased a package of jalapeño bacon which would work perfectly.  

Here is what I came up with..

Roast Beef
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Ingredients
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
  2. 3-4 lb chuck roast
  3. 1 onion, sliced
  4. 1 garlic clove
  5. 2 pieces of jalapeño bacon or regular bacon and cayenne pepper, to taste
  6. 1 Tbsp olive oil
  7. 4 cups of beef bullion
  8. Salt and Pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Cut bacon in 1" squares and saute in oven-proof dutch oven on stove over low-medium heat until crisp.
  3. Remove bacon and place on paper towels.
  4. Retain bacon drippings and saute onion until caramelized.
  5. Prepare roast - on one side score meet by cutting crosswise ever 1-1/2 inches.
  6. Salt and pepper meat and rub in.
  7. Cut clove of garlic in half. Rub over meat and then dice up garlic.
  8. After onions are almost done, add diced garlic for 2 minutes, stirring continuously,
  9. Remove onion mixture.
  10. Heat olive oil over low-medium heat. Add roast cut side down and brown. Flip over and brown second side.
  11. Pour 2 cups of broth over roast and place caramelized onions and garlic on top of meat.
  12. Cover pan and place in over for 1.5 hours. Add another 1/2 cup of broth. Repeat every 30 minutes.
  13. Total cooking time is 3 -4 hours until fork tender.
Notes
  1. I like to make the roast a day before. Place broth in bowl (onions and bacon can be saved), cover with saran wrap and store in refrigerator for several hours or overnight. Remove congealed fat from top of broth. Then reheat on stove top (bacon and onions can be added back in). Mix 1-2 Tbsp of arrowroot or cornstarch into 3/4 cup of broth or water into a small bowl blending until smooth. Slowly mix into broth and stir until thickened.
  2. Now that I have a Instant Pot Pressure Cooker - this recipe's cooking time can be reduced to a little over 1 hour. Directions - prepare as directed get as stated above. Place brown roast in Instant Pot, cover with prepared bacon, onions and use only 1 cup of broth. (We add sautéd mushrooms sometimes). Follow pressure cooker directions, use the manual setting and cook for 80 minutes.
Deliciously Inspired http://www.deliciouslyinspired.com/

GC - Roast Beef - Bacon
First – let’s cook up a little bacon – save the drippings…

GC - Roast Beef - Saute Onions
Saute onions in bacon drippings

GC - Roast Beef - Prepping
Prep the meat by seasoning and browning

GC - Roast Beef - Ready for Oven
Put everything together for the oven

Roast Beef - leftovers
My husband was very happy and enjoyed leftovers for lunch and dinner the next night.

I’ve now included directions taking this recipe to the Instant Pot pressure cooker to reduce the cooking time.

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