Apple Cheese Cinnamon Cornmeal Upside Down Cake

I've baked this cake before - the gluten free style, using recipe from Epicurious
You may view it HERE

This time I followed the recipe exactly from the book, Bon Appetit by Barbara Fairchild - with some additional ingredients, grated cheddar cheese and cinnamon powder - two which I always think go well together with apples
Slightly different recipe from the previous attempt I made, both do made me go hhmmmm... Really delicious dessert I couldn't stop munching on them!

The first one I made I couldn't really taste the cake itself due to the way too big pan I used also the gluten free flour mixture usage, it's almost feel like eating apple crumble, thus I enjoyed eating it with a dollop of ice cream

For this one, I split one recipe into 2 18cm square pans. It gave me short cakes which I prefer, for upside down cake :) And cos I could taste more of the cake this time, I could eat it on its own with no ice cream, it's just yummy!

The sweetness from the soft and juicy apples, the saltiness from the cheesy grated cheddar cheese, added with fragrant cinnamon in it, with soft fluffy cake with slight crunch from the cornmeal - everything mixed together in every bite, heaven!

What you need:

8 tbsps unsalted butter, room temperature
90g plus 115g caster sugar
4 apples (I used red NZ fuji) - peeled, cored and cut into wedges
110g all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
50g yellow cornmeal
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk (I replaced with plain Greek yoghurt)
some grated cheddar cheese
some cinnamon powder

1. Preheat oven to 175degC. Butter 9inch round pan with 1 1/2inch high sides (I used 2 18cm square pan with 4cm high sides), line and butter again
2. Melt 2 tbsps butter in non stick skillet over medium heat. Add in 90g sugar and cook til sugar dissolves and mixture turns deep golden brown, stir occasionally, about 5 minutes
3. Add apple wedges, gently shake the skillet to distribute the caramel evenly. Cover and cook til apples release juices, about 5 minutes. Uncover and cook til apples are tender and caramel thickens and coat apples, stir occasionally, about 13 minutes
4. Transfer apples and syrup to prepared pans, spread evenly
5. Sieve flour, cornmeal, baking soda, salt in a bowl, set aside
6. Beat butter and the remaining sugar til fluffy
7. Add in egg and vanilla. beat in flour mixture alternately with yoghurt in 2 additions each
8. Pour batter over apples in pans
9. Bake cake til golden and tester skewer comes out clean, about 40 minutes
10. Cool cake in pan for 5 minutes. Carefully invert cake onto serving plate and peel off parchment paper. Let cool, cut and serve

This post is for LBT challenge for the month of September, with theme Upside Down Cake :)