Family & Friends Series: Heather's Apple Upside Down Cake

Hi guys!  I'm on vacation right now so I've asked my friend's and family to step in while I'm away!  Each day that I am gone, I will be sharing a recipe from one of my friends or family members.  I started this project with no clear goals, I was just hoping to fill a few of the recipe gaps while I was away.  I received an overwhelming response from everyone, and I am truly honoured and excited to be able to share with you so many great recipes made by so many of my favourite people!  Please enjoy their recipes and be sure to leave them comments at the end of their posts! 
Today's post is brought to you by my best friend Heather! Heather has guest posted on my blog before (Heather's Honey Bran Muffins) and is one of my favourite people to try new recipes with!  She moved all the way to Manitoba a few summers back and I still miss her every single day!  When she lived here we used to get together every Thursday to watch Grey's Anatomy and bake up a new treat together (Homemade Oreos and Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins were both a result of one of these girl's nights).  We still bake together, only now we run up our phone bills and picture text each other instead!  I sure miss her, but thankfully she is just a phone call away! Today she's sharing her recipe for Apple Upside Down Cakes, a recipe that will definitely be making it's way into my oven soon! 

For the cupcake I made just a simple white cake batter. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup milk      1/4 cup shortening

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar, butter and shortening. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth.
3. For the apple topping, I peeled and diced two large apples. 
4. Mix equal parts butter and brown sugar in saucepan. Cook on medium low until bubbling nicely. 
5. Spoon sugar and butter mixture into bottom of cake or cupcake tins, place apples on top in desired pattern or style. Spoon cake batter on top, filling pan three quarters the way full. 
6. For cakes, bake for 25-35 min. Or until toothpick comes out clean. Cupcakes, bake for 15-20 min. 
7. Place tinfoil on the lower rack, these are known to boil over! 

8.   Remove from oven, let cool 5-10 min.  Flip upside down onto counter/flat surface.