Published September 1, 2009. From Cook's Illustrated.
Precooking some of the apples before placing them in the bottom of the cake pan gave us plentiful fruit infused with caramel flavor for our best apple upside- down cake recipe. For a coarse-crumbed cake that wouldn’t buckle under the weight of the fruit, we used the quick-bread method, in which we melt the butter and mix the liquid and dry ingredients separately before combining them. The melted butter introduces less air into the batter, creating a sturdier crumb.
You will need a 9-inch nonstick cake pan with sides that are at least 2 inches high for this cake. Alternatively, use a 10-inch ovenproof stainless steel skillet (don’t use cast iron) to both cook the apples and bake the cake, with the following modifications: Cook the apples in the skillet and set them aside while mixing the batter (it’s OK if the skillet is still warm when the batter is added) and increase the baking time by 7 to 9 minutes. If you don’t have either a 2-inch high cake pan or an ovenproof skillet, use an 8-inch square pan.
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