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Mutsu apples are one of my favorite variety. Crisp, green-skinned and juicy, they fall somewhere between a Fuji and a Granny Smith. This makes them delicious to eat and equally suited for baking.

I set out to make an apple upside-down cake, with lots of gooey appley goodness on top. It was late though and mixing a proper cake batter felt like a little more work than I was up for. Then I remembered a recipe from domestic goddess Nigella Lawson. “Easy sticky-toffee pudding” it’s called and as I pulled Nigella Bites off the bookshelf it handily fell open to page 216 and that luscious photo of butter on brown sugar melted together to make a saucey cake. For those of you that haven’t tried it, it has a thin creviced layer of cake under which is a molten pool of warm sugary goo.

Inspired, I shut the the book and set-off to make my apple inside-out cake.

1 apple peeled, cored and cut into cubes
2 Tbs calvados or good quality brandy
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 C dark brown sugar packed
2 Tbs butter cut into small pieces

1 C flour
1/2 C dark brown sugar packed
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 C melted butter
1 egg
1/2 C milk

1/2 C dark brown sugar packed
2 C boiling water

Heat the oven to 375 degees.

Toss together the first 7 ingredients in a 2 L baking dish making sure it’s all distributed evenly.

Put the flour, 1/2 C brown sugar and baking powder in a bowl and whisk together.

Melt the butter, whisk the egg in, then whisk the milk in. Pour this into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined (it’s okay if it’s still lumpy). Spread this over the apples.

Top with 1/2 C brown sugar and pour the boiling water on top. Put it in the oven for about 40-45 minutes. When it’s done, there will be some spongy cake on top with crevices bubbling up molten sugar.

Serve warm with a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream.

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