"Milopita is a delicious, upside-down apple pie. The morish, sweet and tangy, baked apples are spiced with cinnamon and layered onto a lovely moist cake base."
Milopita (Upside-Down Apple Pie)
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Prep time: 40mins
Cook time: 1hr
Recipe Card
ingredients
- 250 gram melted unsalted butter (reserve 2-2.5 tablespoons for the cake base)
- 5 tablespoons brown sugar
- cinnamon
- 8 large Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and sliced
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 2 room temperature eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 2 1/4 cups sifted self-raising flour
- 1 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Method
Preparing the base of the milopita
Step 1
Cover the base of a large, round, deep baking pan or cake tin (approximately 32cm diameter and 8cm deptwith a mixture of 2 – 2 ½ tablespoons of melted butter and 5 level tablespoons of brown sugar
Step 2
Generously dust with cinnamon
Step 3
Arrange the apples in an attractive array on the base of the baking pan and continue to layer the apples so that there are no visible gaps and they fill the pan evenly
Step 4
Set pan aside
Preparing the milopita cake mixture
Step 1
Beat the caster sugar and eggs
Step 2
Beat in the remaining melted butter and the milk
Step 3
Add the flour, bicarbonate soda and baking powder in batches and whisk through till just incorporated
Step 4
Pour and smooth the cake mixture over the apples
Baking the milopita
Step 1
Bake at 170°C fan-forced for at least one hour. Note: Once the top of the cake layer has browned (approximately 30-40 minutes), loosely cover the baking pan with foil and continue baking for another 20-30 minutes
Step 2
Check the cake batter has cooked through with a skewer (comes out clean when inserted into and removed from the cake)
Step 3
Remove the milopita from the oven and allow it to sit in the baking pan for 10 minutes
Step 4
Carefully turn the milopita over onto a cooling rack (so the apple layer is now on top and the cake layer is at the bottoand allow it to cool for at least 20 minutes
Step 5
Transfer the milopita to a platter and serve
Serving the milopita
Step 1
Serve the milopita just as it is, or with double cream or ice cream
Key Points
Step 1
Use just enough butter to dissolve the brown sugar and spread it as evenly as you can across the base of the pan. I have found that if the ‘melted-butter, brown-sugar’ mixture is a little on the drier side, the caramelisation is better
Step 2
Use lots of cinnamon when dusting the baking pan!!!
Step 3
The aim with this milopita is to have some of the cake batter soften and ooze between the layers of apples, so you end up with three layers: a cooked apple layer; a mixed apple and cake layer; and a cake layer. If the batter is too thin, it will all ooze between the apple layers and essentially become a mixture of apple slices and uncooked batter, even after 1 hour of baking. If the batter is too thick, then the batter will sit on top of the apples and you will end up with two distinct layers; a cooked apple layer and a cake layer. Which is fine, but I feel the better eating experience comes when the three layers are achieved!
Step 4
Use large Granny Smith apples, as their flesh is less dense than the smaller Granny Smiths. This allows for that little bit of batter oozing we are aiming for and allows for better caramelisation in the base of the pan (which becomes the top of the milopita)
Step 5
Use a mandolin on the thick setting to slice the apples. I use the mandolin to slice two thirds of the apple and a knife to slice the remaining portion. Watch your fingers please!!!!!
Step 6
Depending on the ambient air temperature in your kitchen, your wet ingredients may be runnier or thicker and so you may need slightly more or less flour. You will use somewhere between 2 and 2 ½ cups of sifted plain flour. Have a look at the batter consistency in the video and aim for that!
Step 7
Be sure to rest the milopita in the pan for 10 minutes before turning it over onto a cooling rack. If you don’t, some of the apple slices that are in contact with the base of the pan, may remain stuck to the pan… If they do, delicately remove them and place them on top of the cake