A photo of a cake being held outside on a sunny day. The grass is green. The cake is the cake made in this recipe, with pear slices arranged on the top.
A png of washi tape in brown and burgundy.

Spiced upside-down pear cake

(Hover over the image to see how it turned out!) This cake is perfect for autumn because it uses spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves! It's super light and fluffy, and would be really good with some whipped cream on top or with a side of tea or coffee.

Notes

This recipe calls for maple sugar and cream of tartar, neither of which I had on-hand while making it. I substituted the maple sugar for cane sugar mixed with maple syrup to the same quantity, and the cream of tartar for 1 tsp. white vinegar. I use 'maple sugar' in the directions, but mentally replace that with whatever substitute you're using.

Ingredients

For the upside-down top:

  • 1/3 cup maple sugar
  • 3 tbsp. melted butter
  • 2 ripe pears, peeled and cored
  • A pinch of salt

    • For the cake itself:

  • 6 tbsp. butter
  • 3/4 cup of maple sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tbsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 cup & 2 tbsp. flour
  • 1.5 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. crushed ginger or ginger powder
  • 1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar or 1 tsp. white vinegar

    • Materials

  • 9-inch round cake pan

    • Directions

    First, we're going to make the pear top. Aggressively butter the inside of the cake pan to ensure the cake comes out without sticking. Then, combine the melted butter and the maple sugar and pour this into the pan. Your pears should be ripe; you should see spotting on the peels. Peel, core, and cut them into thin slices. Arrange them on top of the mixture in the pan in a pattern of your choosing.

    Preheat the oven to 325°F. Soften the butter in the microwave. Beat this the 3/4 cup of maple sugar together until you get a mixture which should form peaks. Crack the eggs and seperate the yolks from the whites. Set the whites aside for later. Add the yolks and vanilla extract to your mixture and beat. If you're using ginger root instead of ginger powder, peel it, crush it, and add it to this mixture as well. If not, we'll add the powder in the next step.

    In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. If you didn't use ginger root, add the ginger powder here, too.

    Add half of your dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredient mixture and beat until combined. Add the milk and beat again, before adding the remaining half of the dry ingredients. Beat yet again.

    In a separate separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the vinegar (or cream of tartar) until stiff peaks form. Gently fold this into the cake batter in pieces; don't add it all at once! This will make the cake fluffier.

    Pour the batter into the cake pan, over the pear topping. Put it in the oven for ~45 minutes (you can go 5 above or below, depending on your oven). The cake is ready when you can poke a toothpick into it and it comes out clean, and the golden-brown top will spring back when lightly touched. Remove from the oven and let it cool before turning it upside down.

    Credits

    The Pioneer Woman.