Toffee Apple Upside Down Cake ~ Appa's 60th Birthday

Appa's 60th birthday! It's a perfect birthday wherein my folks have landed in Bangalore from Kuwait on holidays. The timing is just perfect and to savor the special moment I ensured I made this cake right before we got caught with all the family chit chatting and outing. My brother took a day off, my husband worked from home and we had the whole day chalked out. Got mum to make String-hoppers and Egg curry for breakfast, lunch being a Mutton Biriyani, and the evening to be spent at the movies....

Ingredients:
Plain Flour - 175gms
Castor Sugar -175gms
Butter - 175gms
Eggs - 3 beaten
Baking powder - 1tbs
Vanilla Extract - 1sp
Rind of 1 whoe lemon
Cream to serve
Cinnamon powder to sprinkle

Toffee Apple Topping
Unsalted butter - 55gms
Castor Sugar - 100gms
water - 1tbs
Apples - 3
Lemon Juice - 2tbs

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 9 inch baking round cake tin. For the apple topping, place the butter and sugar in a heavy saucepan with water and heat gently until melted and then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring until it turns a deep golden caramel colour. Pour quickly into the cake time tilting to cover the base evenly.Peel, core and thickly slice the apples and spread evenly onto the base of the cake tin.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and add the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and combine to a make a smooth batter. Stir in the lemon rind. Spoon in the mixture over the apples and then smooth the surface with a palette knife. Bake for 40-50minutes till golden brown. Leave to cook in the tin for about 2-3minutes and then carefully turn onto a warmed serving plate. Sprinkle some cinnamon powder. Serve with cream.