Apple Sharlotka (or Apple Upside Down Cake...You're Welcome)

Last night I had some weird dreams.

I have heard that pregnant women get unusually bizarre dreams, but to be honest, I typically sleep like the dead and so I {foolishly} didn't really think that would happen to me.

Last night I dreamed that I gave birth in a pitch-black hospital room with just a nurse with me (no Shaun, no other family members), and I waited a full 12 hours before calling anyone (including my husband) to tell them the news. Then I left the hospital to walk down the street for a pumpkin spice latte. I should mention that was without the baby in tow.

So yeah. I was a little freaked out.

You know, if you consider that kind of thing weird.

Maybe American Horror Story is just too much for me to handle this season? I think I was having a flashback to season 1.

Anyway.

I woke up to a sun-shining, gorgeous fall day and I was craving something sweet for breakfast...namely this A-mazing apple upside down cake that I just can't get out of my head.

You see, I made this cake a few weeks ago when I received my Secret Recipe Club assignment for October. When I wandered over to simply.food to pick out a recipe, one dish sounded more exotic and more delicious than the next. Since I was going through my crazy apple phase earlier this month, when I stumbled upon the Apple Sharlotka (or Russian Apple Cake...or Apple Upside Down Cake!!!), I knew it was written in the stars.

What, you've never met your destiny with a baked good before?

This cake was so so good. Is it too bold to say that it's one of my favorite recipes ever?

Because it really is. Not only for the taste, but for how easy this cake was. It came together in a snap. Glorious, sugar-coated apples atop a moist, cinnamony cake and doused with a healthy helping of powdered sugar for good measure...there's not much better in life than that my friends.

Apple Sharlotka (Apple Upside Down Cake)

*Adapted from simply.food

1 large granny smith apple, peeled and cored (but not chopped!)

1 tsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 C self-rising flour

1 C granulated sugar

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened + more for greasing pan

4 Tbsp canola oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Confectioners’ sugar (for dusting)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Peel the apple and remove the core; but keep apple in tact. Slice the apple into thin rings and place in a mixing bowl. Drizzle with lemon juice and set aside.

Grease a 9-inch round baking pan with butter and set aside.

In a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream together the butter, granulated sugar and oil. Mix in the vanilla and eggs until completely combined.

Stir in the flour and cinnamon until just combined.

Lay the apple rings on the bottom of the baking pan. Top with brown sugar. Pour cake batter over the apples and smooth with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool for 10 minutes, run a knife around the edges of the pan and flip out onto a wire rack or cutting board to continue cooling. The carmelized apples should be on top, looking regal and heavenly. Dust with confectioners sugar before serving.

*Note: I pour a tablespoon of confectioners sugar into a sieve and use that to prettily sprinkle the sugar over the cake. It looks like snow :)

 Slice it up.

Eat lots. 

Maybe share with a friend. Or keep it for yourself. I won't tell.

I'll be thinking of this cake all day.

And tonight, let's all pray for good and happy dreams. Like apple upside down cake and Adam Levine (with both arms attached).

Secret Recipe Club: Cherry Cake

Oh hi!

Happy Monday! I'll be spending most of the day in the car, driving to and from a meeting in Connecticut. Shaun and I spent the weekend having a delicious dinner with great friends at Minetta Tavern and hanging out down the shore on Saturday and Sunday. A great summer weekend, in my opinion!

I'm excited today because it's Secret Recipe Club reveal day for Group C! This month, I received Mother Thyme as my blog assignment. If you haven't spent some time on Jennifer's blog, well, you really need to. Her photos are gorgeous and her recipes all look incredible. When I stumbled upon her recipe for a simple cherry cake, I knew it had to be mine.

Each month, The Secret Recipe Club, founded by the lovely Amanda, pairs a blogger with another blog. The blogger then chooses one recipe to cook or bake and reveals it as a surprise on a designated day. I like. A special thanks also to Angie @ Big Bear's Wife for playing hostess in Group C!

So this cake. I really liked this cake. It was incredibly easy to make. I used frozen cherries, rather than fresh (because, really, who has the patience to pit all of those cherries? If I did that, most of them would end up in my mouth), which I think worked nicely. Oh! And I also didn't have any sour cream on hand when I went to make the cake, so I just subbed in buttermilk instead. I think the sour cream would have made it more fluffy, but for me, the buttermilk worked just fine.

This cake was moist and not too sweet with just a hint of tartness. I made this for my birthday celebration last Sunday and I think it was a hit! 

Cherry Cake
*Adapted from Mother Thyme

1 C all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 C sugar

1/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 C buttermilk

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

12 oz. frozen whole sweet cherries, pitted

1 tsp confectioners sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray an 8" springform pan with cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) cream together the sugar and butter. Pour in buttermilk and mix until blended. Add in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients just until combined.  

Pour batter into prepared pan. Place cherries on top of cake batter and lightly press them into batter.  

Bake for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool completely. Remove sides of springform pan and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.  

Eat up!

So that's my SRC recipe for July. Not too shabby, right? I'd happily eat this for breakfast or lunch today ;)

Hope you all have a great week!

Questions of the Day:

What's your favorite way to eat cherries?

Do you ever bake with them?

Birthday Cake Part I: Fluffy Yellow Cake + Milk Chocolate Frosting

Thanks for all of your comments in the SlimKicker giveaway! In case you missed it, head over to yesterday's post to enter to win a slow cooker from SlimKicker! SlimKicker turns your diet/fitness goals into a level-up game.  When you join, you get points as you count calories, track your fitness, and participate in challenges. You have until tomorrow at noon to enter the giveaway!

As I mentioned, this weekend was a big birthday weekend in our families! Both my mom and Shaun's mom's birthdays fall within a week of each other. In fact, March is a big birthday month on both sides of our families all around.

But this past weekend, we celebrated Shaun's Mom's birthday on Friday evening. We had offered to bring dessert and so I got to work on finding a cake to bake in celebration. I wasn't 100% sure of what her favorite combination would be and so I decided to keep it very simple. I decided on a yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

If you're a long time reader, you may recall this post of yore in which I broke Kimberly's birthday cake in half while getting it out of the pan. I had to remake the cake. I had used a Betty Crocker recipe for that one and even despite the cake breaking...well, I just didn't love the cake itself.

It looked pretty though after I remade it though, no?

So for this one, I went in search of a new recipe. I dug out my America's Test Kitchen Cookbook and found a recipe for Fluffy Yellow Layer Cake and Milk Chocolate Frosting. I have really been loving this cookbook. Though many of the recipes I've tried require a lot of extra steps, unlike a simple Betty Crocker, I have found that this book just has not steered me wrong. Every recipe thus far has been a winner! This one included.

I frosted up the cake with loads of milk chocolate frosting and Shaun dusted the entire top with sprinkles. Sprinkles makes everthing better, don't they?

Following a delicious Italian dinner, we headed back to Shaun's parents' house and it was time for dessert!

And time for the moment of truth for me! I was so hoping that this cake turned out fabulously.

It did!

Luckily, this was one of the best cakes I've ever made. It was so good and I can't wait to make it again!

I didn't post the recipe because I literally took it straight from the book with very minor adaptations. If you are interested in making this, I can add the recipe! Let me know! I should also note that I worked very hard to frost this cake and did an average job at best. I'm just not a cake decorator! But if you have any cake frosting advice, lay it on me!

Questions of the Day:

Have you ever been in charge of dessert for a birthday?

What did you make? Or bring (even if you didn't make it yourself)?

We also picked up a couple of pints of Ben & Jerry's since we know Shaun's mom loves ice cream! It was an extra fun treat!

For some more America's Test Kitchen recipes, you may also see:

Loaded butterscotch blondies with salted chocolate glaze (I heavily adapted this one!)

Skillet roasted chicken + potato wedges

Pineapple coconut dream bars (also very heavily adapted, but a great base cake!)