Topping
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 apple, unpeeled, cored, and thinly sliced (I recommend pink lady, honey crisp, or granny smith apples; basically, a very crisp apple.
Cake
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 apples, peeled and coarsely grated
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Slice the apple so you'll have it ready. Then melt the brown sugar and butter together in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved, the butter is melted, and it's all incorporated. Spray a 9" cake pan with cooking spray, then pour in the toffee, tilting the pan so it covers the bottom. Lay out the apple slices in a fan effect. This will be the top of cake, so try to make it pretty.
Beat the butter and brown sugar together until smooth. Add the eggs and beat until lightened and fluffy.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cinnamon. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ones. The recipe calls for stirring them in gently. Just try not to over mix it. The batter is pretty thick, but it will thin out a bit from the juice from the apple shreds. Stir in the grated apples. Spoon the batter in blobs over the arranged apples. Spread over all the apples.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the cake is set. Let it cool for 10 minutes. If necessary, run a knife around the edges to loosen, and then invert it onto your serving plate.
Serve warm or at room temperature, with ice cream or whipped cream.
