Adjusted for high altitude
Ingredients:
For apples:
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3 apples, peeled and cored, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise about ¼ inch thick
For cake:
- ¼ pound (½ cup) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- 2/3 cup blanched almonds, finely ground
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 375. Heat the butter with the brown sugar in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Overlap the apples around the outer edge of the sugared pan, then, reversing directions, fill in the center.
For the cake, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the vanilla and almond extract. Beat in the eggs one at a time until smooth. Stir in the nuts, followed by the remaining dry ingredients. Spoon the batter over the fruit and smooth it out with an offset spatula.
Bake in the center of the oven until the cake is golden and springy when pressed with a fingertip, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes, then set a cake plate on top of the pan, grasp both the plate and the pan tightly, and turn it over. Carefully ease the pan off the cake. If any fruits have stuck to the pan, simply pry them off and return them to the cake.
— Adapted from “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone” by Deborah Madison
