How to make an apple upside-down cake

Step One:  Figure out what you have in the house that is not going to get eaten before it rots. "Hmm.  Punkin's recently decided she no longer likes apples."  

Step Two:  Try to decide what you could do with it.  "Mmmmm....apple pie.  No, apple brown betty!  Apple turnover?  No, you don't want to put that much effort into dessert.  How about upside down cake?  Why not?"

Step Three:  Consult your new favorite cook book - Joy of Cooking  

It says that pineapple upside down cake was developed as a way to sell more canned pineapples, which makes sense because they aren't very good even on this cake.  Read on.  It also says fresh fruit is good (maybe even better) and apples are even on the list!  Awesome!

Preheat the oven to 350.

Step Four:  Chop walnuts and pull pre-sliced apples from the fridge.  Ok, in all fairness, if you don't happen to have a three-year-old recovering apple addict, you could slice them fresh.  About 1/2 inch thick. 

 In hindsight I really should have peeled them, but I'm lazy so I didn't.  They turned out a little chewy in the end, but still good. 

 Walnuts should be coarsely chopped and I didn't measure but, eyeballing, I'd say there's about 1/4 cup there. 

Step Five:  Put 3-6 tablespoons of butter in a 9 inch cast-iron skillet, depending on how gooey you like it.  Ideally you would use grandma's skillet so that you know its well seasoned ;).  

Put the pan in the oven until the butter melts.  Take it out and sprinkle 3/4 to 1 cup of brown sugar, again depending on how gooey you like it.  Add some cinnamon (duh, because we're using apples), next sprinkle the walnuts, and, finally, layer the apples.  I put two layers of walnuts because Papa is nuts about them! (pun intended)

Step Six:  Follow the instructions for the cake.  

Step Seven:  When its done baking, pull it from the oven and *gently* wiggle it a bit to make sure its not stuck to the sides.  

Let cool for 2-3 minutes.  

Put a platter over the top, grab the oven mitt, begin to invert.  Realize that you are too puny to lift and flip the big ol' skillet and hold on to the platter without loosing the cake and breaking both platter and toe.  Call in reinforcements.

 "Papa!"  

Have the big, strong man in your life take over.  Watch in awe as he flips, the cake inverts perfectly, and nothing is broken!  

Behold!  Dessert!  

Eat your heart out.