Apple Upside Down Cornmeal Cakes

If there is a consolation for summer’s end and that consolation came in the form of food, it would be apples, no? They are the very essence of goodness. And, yes, evil too, for the classicists among you. And in our home they’re both. Ben has an allergy to raw apples and we act as if our kids have it, too. It used to stress me out because of course apples are such a common snack that everyone gives them to kids. It’s not like nuts where people double check before serving them at play dates. It amazed me how early both of our kids starting looking after this themselves. Even our toddler hands me an apple and says, “Cook” when he wants one. Even though I could, I never eat a raw apple at home – I feel bad about it somehow. But cooked? Oh, yeah baby. We almost always have apple sauce on the go. Or I’ll keep a container of cooked, diced apple to toss onto oatmeal in the mornings. But baking with apples is the best. Nothing can beat the smell of something apple-y, cinnamon-y, cake-y in the oven.

I came across this recipe in a recent special edition of the sadly-one Gourmet magazine. They’re freakishly simple to make yet quite impressive looking. And they’re not too sweet which is how I like desserts. The cornmeal gives a really nice crumb to the cake. You could serve these with a dollop of whipped cream for a casual fall dinner party or just eat them plain when you start craving something at 3:30 pm…. We had them both ways and they were delicious. No evil in these cakes at all, just goodness.

photos by Maya Visnyei