Ginger Pear Upside Down Cake

ginger pear upside down cake

The weather has turned frosty and so my thoughts have turned to comfort food.

A lovely winter or summer dessert, Ginger Pear Upside Down Cake can be made with fresh or canned pears.

When pears are at their peak in the fall, I would most certainly use fresh pears to make Ginger Pear Upside Down Cake, but isn’t it lovely to make a fruit dessert in the middle of winter.

There is a light dusting of ground ginger on the pears. The cake is light and fluffy and the added lemon rind enhances the pear flavour.

We enjoyed this dessert after a main course of Carrot Ginger Soup, Beer and Cheese Muffins and a spinach salad.

Serve Ginger Pear Upside Down Cake warm or at room temperature, with or without whipped cream.

Cover any leftover cake with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge for up to 3 or 4 days.

Ginger Pear Upside Down Cake

Serves 8

Ingredients

Base

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup

Fruit Layer

  • 1 796 ml can pears in light syrup or fruit juice, drained (or may use 4 -5 ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into wedges)
  • 1/4 Tsp ground ginger

Cake

  • 1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
  • 1 Tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 Tsp baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 6 Tbsp soft butter (equivalent to 3/8 cup of soft butter)
  • 2/3 cups brown sugar
  • 2/3 cups white sugar
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 Large eggs
  • 3/4 cups buttermilk (may substitute with sour cream)

Directions

Grease a 9" round cake pan or tart tin with butter, using wax paper.
In a small saucepan combine the 1/4 cup of butter with the 1/4 cup of brown sugar and maple syrup. Stir over moderate heat until the sugar is dissolved. Pour into the bottom of the cake pan.
Cut each pear in half and the each half into 3 or 4 pieces and arrange in a circular fashion over the base.
Sprinkle the 1/4 tsp of ginger over the arranged fruit.
Ginger Pear Upside Down Cake - pear and ginger layer
Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, cream the 6 tbsp of butter with the white and brown sugars and grated lemon zest. Beat in eggs one at a time. Fold in flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
Ginger Pear Upside Down Cake - cream the butter, sugars and lemon
Spoon batter evenly over the pears.
Ginger Pear Upside Down Cake - spoon batter over fruit
Bake at 350 deg F for about 40 minutes, until the top is golden and a cake tester comes out clean.
Ginger Pear Upside Down Cake
Set cake pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then loosen the edges of the cake and turn out onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature, with or without whipped cream.
Ginger Pear Upside Down Cake

Comments are closed.