Master Cake Recipe: Apple Cake and Pineapple Upside Down Cake

In scratch baking, there are shortcuts and there are loopholes. Many don't work, but this recipe is an exception.  With a single and simple cake batter, the home cook can create two different cakes in under an hour.  And therein lies the beauty of this "master" cake recipe.

Master Cake Recipe, handwritten in a 1920 cookbook owned by one Marie Bevenetto, is a true culinary building block. This simple and delicious white cake can be used as a base for many other desserts.  Marie suggests -- and provides recipes for --  Apple Cake, Upside Down Cake and Boston Cream Pie. I made the first two with great results. Marie labeled the apple cake as "very good" and the pineapple upside down cake as "excellent." My tasters (work colleagues) deemed them both excellent.

The ingredients are basic (with the exception of orange extract; I didn't have any so just left it out). Below is the mis en place for the cake batter.

After mixing the batter, which took all of ten minutes, I got started on the apple cake by slicing one medium apple very thin.

I poured half of the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan. The batter is thick, so use an offset spatula or the back of a spoon to push it to the edges.

Place the apples on the batter.

And sprinkle on some cinnamon and  sugar. I used white sugar, though brown sugar would also be good.

I set the apple cake aside while I lined a 9-inch round pan (just greased, not floured) with pineapple slices, and filled the empty spaces with brown sugar and chopped walnuts.

I placed the batter atop the fruit, and again pushed the batter to the sides of the pan.

Below is the master recipe cake, along with the two variations I made. I've typed them out below, with the method I used.

Master Cake Recipe (for Apple Cake and Pineapple Upside Down Cake)

Preheat oven to 350F
Grease and flour 8 x 8 pan
Grease 8 or 9-inch round pan

2 eggs
1 C. sugar
2 C. flour
1/3 C. melted butter
1/2 C. water
1 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1 t. orange extract (can sub extra vanilla instead)
1 t. baking powder

Beat eggs in a mixer.
Add sugar gradually, beating after each addition
Combine flour, salt and baking powder.
Add flour and water alternately to the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.
Add butter, vanilla and orange. Mix until combined.
Bake in two layers, or use for the cakes below.

Apple Cake

In a greased and floured 8 x 8 pan, place 1/2 of the master cake recipe batter.
Smooth batter so it reaches the edges.
Place thinly sliced apples on top of the cake.
Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon
Bake in 350F oven about 25 minutes.
When cool, slice in the pan and serve plain or with whipped cream.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

In a greased 8 or 9-inch round pan, place whole pineapple slices to cover the bottom.
Fill the center of each pineapple and any empty spaces with 1 teaspoon brown sugar and some chopped walnuts.
Place 1/2 of the master cake recipe batter atop the fruit and smooth it out so it reaches the edges of the pan.
Bake in a 350F oven for about 25 minutes.
Remove from oven and place a plate over the top. Flip to release the cake.

Gingerbread Upside Down Cake

Unable to bear yet another dreary, white-sky cold winter day (and jetting to St. Barts was not an option), I baked up the best defense -- Gingerbread Upside Down Cake, a perfect blend of seasonal (gingerbread) and tropical (pineapple).

This cake is easy, delicious and unusual.  It's a pineapple upside down cake made with gingerbread in place of the dessert's traditional yellow cake.  I'm not the only one to like this recipe:  Mrs. Lloyd E. Young, of Albany,New York, was awarded the $100 first prize in a 1931 contest cooked up by Grand Union.  It, along with 28 other prize winning recipes, was published by the supermarket chain on the occasion of its 59th birthday.

This cake starts with a trip to the supermarket where one can purchase canned pineapple and molasses today, just like Mrs. Lloyd did in 1931.

Pineapple slices (with some walnut "filler") are placed atop the butter-molasses mixture.

The cake batter at the outset.

The dry ingredients before sifting through a sieve.

The batter will be quite stiff (below) but will smooth out once the boiling water is added.

Pour or spoon the batter carefully over the pineapple slices.

Once baked, it looks like a traditional gingerbread until...

The pan is flipped over, revealing the dessert's tropical soul.

Let it cool a bit before slicing.

Top view of slice.

Below is the recipe as it was published and, below that, is my 21st-century interpretation.  The original recipe is a bit difficult to follow, what with the ingredients and method all combined in one really long paragraph.

Gingerbread Upside Down Cake
Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease cake pan (if using instead of skillet)

Topping
1 1/2 T. unsalted butter
1/2 C. molasses
1 can pineapple (or about 7 or 8 slices)
A few walnuts
Raisins (optional)

Melt butter and add molasses.  Heat to boiling point and remove from heat.  (You can do this directly in an iron skillet, in which you bake the cake.  I don't have an iron skillet, so I heated this mixture in a small saucepan and poured it into a greased nine-inch cake pan.)
Place pineapple slices on top of butter-molasses mixture.  Fill in the spaces with smaller pieces of pineapple, pieces of walnut and/or raisins.
Set aside.

Cake
3 T. unsalted butter
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C. molasses
1 beaten egg
1/2 C. boiling water
1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Cream butter, add sugar and molasses.  Add egg and beat.  Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and add.  Mix thoroughly and add boiling water.  Spoon/pour batter over the pineapple slices.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes.
Remove from oven and place cake dish over pan.  Flip and let cool slightly.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

 It's June, and I should be making all sorts of desserts with local strawberries and rhubarb, but I found myself with a very ripe pineapple -- and an intriguing c. 1950s recipe for upside down cake.  

Fresh pineapple makes this dessert exceptionally delicious.  I used a biscuit cutter to remove the core after I cut the fruit into 1/2 inch slices.  And, as you can see in the picture at top, I used the extra pieces of pineapple in place of the maraschino cherries which, while colorful, are full of quite undesirable chemicals.  (Full disclosure:  I was actually saving my cherries for ice cream sundaes.)

Although the recipe (below) called for a cast iron skillet, I don't have one at the moment.  I've had many, many in my life, but no matter what I do, they end up rusting, even after I follow all the seasoning directions.  I didn't even have luck with one of the new-fangled pre-seasoned cast iron skillets. So, I just used a regular old frying pan, and the cake worked beautifully.

Unlike many recipes for upside down cake, this one called for separating the eggs and beating the egg whites with sugar into a meringue.  This is an extra step and one that requires using another bowl and set of beaters, but the results are worth it.

The cake puffed up a lot (by the time I took this photo, it had settled a bit) in the oven, but it slipped out of the pan beautifully.  Just put the serving plate upside down atop the cake and flip.  And, in the picture at top, you can see that, despite not using cast iron, the top was caramelized.

You may notice that there's some liquid on the plate and I attribute that to the fact that I removed the cake from the oven ten minutes early because I wanted to get to a protest rally against the recent staff cuts and closings at the South Street Seaport Museum.   So even though I thought I was sacrificing my cake for a higher cause (read about the Museum's struggles here), it turned out quite well.  I only pray for the Museum to enjoy the same good fortune.