The cake turned upside-down

(Just like the world)

Hello there!

It’s almost a week until Thanksgiving. The leaves that remain on the trees outside my kitchen windows are mango yellow, electric gold and fat-that-floats-on-the-top-of-chili red.

(I spent part of this week, in my role as adjunct professor in the School of Communications and Media at Montclair State University, teaching the students in my digital magazine writing class to challenge themselves when writing and move beyond expected, hackneyed descriptors. So, um, how’d I do with that last description of leaves?)

As much as I love teaching those college students, I veritably skip home to work on, and test, recipes for y’all.

Today’s offering: A cranberry-apple upside-down pumpkin cake.

The idea has been rattling around my head for awhile. The result of all that shaking about in my head is a homey-yet-elegant cake. Cranberries and apples play well together, all puckery and sweet. They’re cooked in a light, buttery caramel to create a sticky, glistening topping to a lightly spiced pumpkin cake. It’s a great alternative to pie, pie and more pie. It also deserves a very large dollop of whipped cream.

Notes on the making of the cake:

• Be sure to chop the apple into pieces about the size of the cranberries.

• Chopped pecans or walnuts would make a great addition to either the topping, or the cake itself.

• I apologize in advance that you only need half a can of pumpkin puree. You could double the recipe and give one to a friend. Or mix it into pancake batter, add some pumpkin pie spice and have a great Thanksgiving breakfast.

• Place the cake pan on a baking sheet (line it with parchment or foil if you want to save on clean up), because the filling often enjoys bubbling up and over the sides of the cake pan.

• Store this in the refrigerator until a few hours before serving. Serve with whipped cream. My brother Paul insists ice cream is also a good choice.

Cranberry-Apple Upside-Down Pumpkin Cake

Serves 8 to 12 people. (We cut our slices LARGE)

What You’ll Need:

9 x 2-inch cake pan, preferably heavy gauge

Ingredients for the topping:

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons white sugar

2 cups fresh cranberries

1 cup chopped apple

1/2 teaspoon, packed, grated orange or lemon zest

(optional 1/4 cup chopped nuts of your choice)

Ingredients for the cake:

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup neutral vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup (8 ounces) pumpkin puree (I use canned)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

1/3 cup water

What You’ll Do:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

First make the topping:

1. Grease the sides (but not the bottom) of the cake pan. Set aside.

2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and sugar over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally. When the mixture comes to a boil and the sugar has dissolved, reduce the heat and add in the cranberries, apples, zest and nuts (if using). Coat the fruits well with the sugar-butter mixture and pour into the prepared cake pan. Make sure the fruit is evenly distributed around the pan.

   Make the cake:

   1. In a medium bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients, from the flour to the cinnamon. Set aside.

   2. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, pumpkin puree and vanilla extract until well-blended.

   3. Whisk in half of the flour mixture until just blended, add half the water, then repeat with remaining flour and water.

   4. Pour the mixture over the fruit. Smooth the batter and place the cake pan on a baking sheet and place into the preheated oven and bake for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on your oven and the temperature of your ingredients. A toothpick will come out clean when the cake is done.

      If some of the caramel mixture bubbles up into the cake, fear not, it will still taste delicious.

   5. Set the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. While it’s cooling, loosen the edges of the cake with a spatula or butter knife.

   6. Put a large plate upside down on top of the cake and carefully flip the entire cake upside down. Leave the cake IN THE PAN to cool for another 10 minutes. Send kind thoughts to the cake faeries and give a sharp rap or two on the bottom of the pan and sloooowwwwwwly ease the cake pan up and off. Have an offset spatula at the ready to replace/repair any stragglers that remain in the pan. Smooth the top down and no one will know.

      Let cool. Serve at room temperature with cold whipped cream. If not eating that day, store in the refrigerator until just before dessert o’clock.

      

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As I write this, CNN is broadcasting the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial live from Brunswick, Georgia.

We typically see only snippets of footage from the trials, often times not even that; just a sketch from the court artist, or a report from the steps of the courthouse from a newscaster.

To watch live, as murder defendant Travis McMichael took the stand in his own defense, and witness how his lawyers (honest-to-goodness—call Dr. Freud—I just typed “liars” instead of “lawyers.”) build his case in real time is repellent, angering and a worthwhile reminder of how racism is allowed as normal in a court of law.

The argument: it’s okay for a white man to shoot an innocent Black guy ‘cuz the white guy heard there was an uptick in crime via Facebook and Travis, his mom, and, gosh, well, everyone whom he knew was just plum scared. Also, he’d learned to deal with criminals in the US Coast Guard, so he obviously he knew how to handle a black man innocently jogging.

Of course this same thing is going on over at the Kyle “I Drive Across State Lines to Deliver First Aid with an AR-15” Rittenhouse, while Paul Gosar smirks as the House of Representatives votes on whether to pat him gently on the wrist and whisper “No-no, Paulie G., might you consider not possibly doing that again, even though it was kinda funny, and you’re right, the kids today do love Anime.”

I’m grateful for legal experts like Joyce Vance and Elliott Williams who help temper my raging anger towards the legal system with facts. Or at the very least, they tell me when it’s okay to be angry.

Now, here’s a funny looking squash to change the subject and lighten the mood.

Thank you all for making it this far and thanks for subscribing! Please share with your friends and tune into the Secret Life of Cookies podcast whose special guest this week will be…..the one, the only, the amazing, the inimitable star of stage and cuisine: Mollie Katzen. We’ll be making pie crust and trying not to get more angry over the week’s events.