This cake is both creative and delicious.  The upside-down cake is simple to prepare and can be served as is.  For a Rosh Hashana twist, I surrounded the cake with a chocolate honeycomb and some candy bees.

This cake is available for sale among other delicious desserts at the Segal Home this Sunday, September 17th, 2017 from 12 noon until 5 PM.   The proceeds will benefit Yad Sarah, an excellent organization in Israel that provides medical equipment to patients in need.  The bake sale address is 475 FDR Drive #301 on the Lower East Side. For more information, please contact Staci at 917-295-7285 or stacisegal@aol.com

INGREDIENTS

Cake
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons juice or nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla or vanilla sugar
2 eggs

4 small baking apples, diced small
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar

Honey glaze
1/2 cup  honey
4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or vanilla sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups  chopped nuts (I used pecans)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 °F.  Cover a round baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.  Cut a parchment paper circle to cover the foil on the bottom of the pan.

Honey glaze

In a small bowl, mix together the honey, coconut oil, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.  Fold in the nuts.

Spread the honey glaze over the bottom of the parchment-lined pan.  Place the pan with the honey glaze in the refrigerator or freezer while preparing the cake batter.  This will make the batter easier to add to the top of the glaze.

Apple Honey Cake

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add melted coconut oil, sugar, orange juice, vanilla and eggs and stir until just combined.  The consistency of the batter will be pasty.

In another bowl, toss diced apples with sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

Remove the honey glaze pan from the refrigerator or freezer and pour half of the cake batter (just a thin layer) over the honey sauce.

Sprinkle about half of the coated diced apples over the batter. Add the remaining cake batter and don’t worry if the thin layer blends with the apple layer.   Finally, add the remaining apples.  Although the cake looks flat, it will rise during the baking process.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until just lightly browned.

Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto the serving plate lined with waxed or parchment paper.

This cake is easiest to serve after refrigeration.

Honeycomb and bees

For a stunning presentation, I surrounded the cake with a chocolate honeycomb and some edible bees, using the bubble wrap technique that I described last year in ..In the Honey: Rosh Hoshana Honeycomb Cupcakes.

Melt chocolate wafers or chips. I use the defrost feature on the microwave. I spread the chocolate out on a microwave-safe dinner plate and place it on defrost mode for 6-8 minutes.

Cut a piece of clean bubble wrap to match the height and circumference of the cake with just a bit of overlap for the length.

Cut another small square of bubble wrap for the honeycomb shards.  Mark the size of the bubble wrap surround on a piece of parchment or wax paper and another for the small square.  Spread the chocolate out on the parchment or wax paper for the surround and the shards, keeping the chocolate thin but not translucent. Press bubble wrap with bubble side down onto melted chocolate.     Let the honeycomb square harden on a flat surface.

While still warm and pliable, but firm enough to maintain its shape, place the chocolate side of the bubble wrap against the cake, surrounding the cake with the coated bubble wrap.

 

Break off portions of the honeycomb at the top of the cake to give it a natural honeycomb look.  Once chocolate has hardened, carefully peel bubble wrap off of the chocolate, revealing the honeycomb surround.

For the bubble wrap square, carefully remove the bubble wrap and break the chocolate into shards that resemble pieces of honeycombs.

Place slivered almonds on either side of each jellybean.

Fill two small ziploc or piping bags with chocolate and white frosting. To do this neatly, place the bag in a tall glass and fold the top of the bag over the edge of the glass like a collar and fill with frosting. Cut corner of bag with a tiny opening to pipe thin stripes on the jellybean bees. Carefully squeeze frosting to corner.

Pipe stripes of white frosting on black jellybeans. Pipe stripes of chocolate frosting on yellow jellybeans.

Use frosting to adhere the bees to the cake and to the honeycombs.

Voila!

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