My gluten free sticky toffee apple upside down cake

Nothing says autumn like toffee apples and hot desserts, so I decided to celebrate my favourite season with a new recipe – my gluten free sticky toffee apple upside down cake. With a sweet and sticky toffee sauce, seasonal apple slices and a delicious sponge, this is the kind of dessert you want to smother in custard and eat while wearing a big, wooly jumper. In front of the fire. With a hot chocolate… you get my drift!?

I won’t lie, I ate a lot of this cake while I was developing the recipe. I had a few, er, disasters during my practice runs but, several gluten free sticky toffee apple upside down cakes later, I’ve cracked it!

It’s pretty simple to put together too – just make the toffee sauce, slice up the apple and whip up the cake batter before assembling the lot. The hardest bit is waiting for it all to cool down so you can get stuck in!

I’ve made this cake using ground almonds to give it a bit of a thicker, stodgier texture. I love using ground almonds in my gluten free baking, such as in my gluten free lemon and pistachio drizzle cake.

I find they just give an amazing flour and feel to the bake! I’ve also added xantham gum because I use this in all of my bakes now. You could make it without it, but whenever I bake with it, people always comment saying ‘I’d never know this was gluten free!’

My gluten free sticky toffee apple upside down cake recipe

So here it is, my super easy gluten free sticky toffee upside down cake recipe! The recipe does use butter and cream – I haven’t tried it with dairy free substitutes but if you give it a go, please let me know as I’d love to know how it turned out!

This cake is best eaten warm, but you can also enjoy it cold and store it in an airtight container for a couple of days.

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Yield: 10

Sticky toffee apple upside down cake

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

This gluten free sticky toffee apple upside down cake is the perfect gluten free dessert. Serve it up with ice-cream or custard for extra indulgence!

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Ingredients

For the cake:

• 250 g soft brown sugar
• 250 g unsalted butter
• 125 g Greek yoghurt
• 4 large eggs
• 150 g self-raising gluten free flour, (I used FREEE by Dove's Farm)
• 1/2 tsp xantham gum
• 100 g ground almonds

For the toffee sauce:

• 35 g unsalted butter
• 85 g soft brown sugar
• 220 g golden syrup
• 60 g double cream
• 3 braeburn apples

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180'C/Gas 4. Either use a round silicon baking tin or grease and line a round baking tin (measuring 26cm/10-inches in diameter) with baking paper and a little butter. Set aside.

First make the toffee sauce:

1. Peel, quarter and core the apples. Cut each quarter into three and then arrange the apple slices on the bottom of the baking tin.
2. Add the sugar, butter and golden syrup to a large pan and place on a low heat. Stir until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. When it starts bubbling, add the double cream, stir and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, allow to cool slightly while you make the cake mixture.

Next make the cake batter:

1. Add the butter, Greek yoghurt and sugar to a large mixing bowl. Using an electric whisk, beat for 1-2 minutes until thoroughly mixed. Add the eggs, flour, xantham gum and ground almonds and beat with the mixer until smooth.
2. Take the toffee and pour evenly over the slices of apple in the baking tin. Then gently spoon the mixture over the apple slices. You want to make sure all the apple and toffee is covered - but try not to mix it up too much. I find the best way is spooning small 'dollops' into the tin until it is all covered.
3. Bake in the middle of the oven for approx 1 hour. Test the cake by seeing if a skewer in the centre comes out clean. If not cooked, put back in the oven for 10 minutes more. Remove and cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before turning out. Serve warm with extra Greek yoghurt or ice-cream.

Need some more gluten free dessert inspiration?

Autumn is certainly dessert season, so here are some other delicious gluten free dessert recipes for you to test out too. For some more gluten free desserts check out my…

• Gluten free jam roly poly pudding
• Gluten free toffee and pecan roulade
• Gluten free Bakewell Tart

If you do make this recipe please let me know! I’d love to see your photos using #theglutenfreeblogger, share them in my Facebook group or tag me on Instagram. And if you have any recipe suggestions, please let me know in the comments what you’d like to see next! Oh – and don’t forget to sign up for my e-newsletter where you’ll know about all my latest posts and competitions first!

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