1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 cup + 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, divided
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon dark molasses
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons corn syrup
12 maraschino cherries, quartered (optional)
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped pecans
2 cups apples, peeled and sliced
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine water with raisins; let stand 10 minutes. Drain raisins and set aside.
Butter 8″ square baking pan. Combine next 5 ingredients.
At medium-high speed using an electric mixer, beat 2/3 cup sugar with shortening until creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg until combined; beat in milk, molasses and vanilla.
Combine in flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until just combined.
Drizzle butter over bottom of pan; sprinkle with remaining brown sugar. Drizzle with corn syrup;
sprinkle with cherries (optional), pecans and reserved raisins. Arrange apples over mixture, overlapping slices. Pour batter over apples.
Bake 45-50 minutes or until apples are tender and toothpick inserted near center of cake comes out
clean. Run knife around edges of cake. Invert serving platter over top of pan; invert and remove pan.