Harvest Upside-Down Cake

An alternative to pineapple upside down cake. From Woman's World magazine.

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Yields: 1 8inch cake

Ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup boiling water
• 1⁄4 cup raisins
• 1 1⁄2 cups cake flour
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 2  teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 2⁄3 cup  packed brown sugar, divided, plus
• 1⁄2 cup  packed brown sugar, divided
• 1⁄4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1  egg
• 1⁄2 cup milk
• 1  tablespoon dark molasses
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1⁄4 cup butter, melted
• 2  tablespoons corn syrup
• 12  maraschino cherries, quartered
• 2  tablespoons  coarsely chopped walnuts
• 2  cups granny smith apples, peeled and sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine water with raisins; let stand 10 minutes.
3. Drain and set aside.
4. Butter 8 inch square baking pan.
5. Combine next 5 ingredients. Set aside.
6. At medium-high speed beat 2/3 cup sugar with shortening until creamy about 2 minutes.
7. Beat in egg until combined; beat in milk, molasses and vanilla.
8. Beat in flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until just combined.
9. Drizzle butter over bottom of pan; sprinkle with remaining brown sugar.
10. Drizzle with corn syrup, sprinkle with cherries, walnuts and reserved raisins.
11. Arrange apples over mixture, overlapping slices.
12. Pour batter over apples.
13. Bake 45-50 minutes or until apples are tender, and toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
14. Cool for 10 minutes then run knife around edges of cake.
15. Invert serving plate over top of pan; invert and remove pan.
16. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream if desired.