Maple Apple Upside-Down Cake

Sometimes it's really not that bad having to make your own birthday cake.  Case in point:

I made an adjustment to the following recipe when I made it today - I didn't have a 10-inch cake pan, so decided to make two 8-inch cakes instead.  I can do that, dammit; I'm a grown-up.  And besides, it's my birthday.  In order to do this I changed the following:

• increase maple syrup to 1 ¼ cups
• increase apples to 4
• baking time decreased to about 50 minutes - just keep an eye on it.

So, moving on to the pertinent stuff, namely THIS: 

Maple Apple Upside-Down Cake

1 cup pure maple syrup

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced - one of those old-fashioned apple peelers is highly recommended!

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon allspice

3 large eggs

¾ cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons apple liqueur (optional, but a nice addition if you have some)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 cups sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease and flour a 10-inch round cake pan.  In a small saucepan, bring the maple syrup to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat until very thick and reduced to ¾ cup, about 20 minutes.  Pour the thickened syrup into the cake pan.  Arrange the apples in the pan in 2 concentric circles, overlapping them slightly.  

In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.  In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with the buttermilk and vanilla (and liqueur, if using).  In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Beat in the dry and wet ingredients in alternating batches until the batter is smooth; scrape down the side of the bowl.

Scrape the batter over the apples and spread it in an even layer.   

Bake the cake for 1 ½ hours, until golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool on a rack for 30-45 minutes.  Place a plate on top of the cake and invert the cake onto the plate; tap lightly to release the cake.  Remove the pan gently.  Let the cake cool slightly before cutting.