If we were to compile a book of family recipes, this upside down pear gingerbread may just be on the cover. We have it every Thanksgiving – it’s our pumpkin pie. It’s special but not fancy, with a soft interior and chewy, caramelly edge, and is one of the very best vehicles for whipped cream there is.

One of the biggest selling points of an upside-down cake is the fact that it needs no decorating. When you invert the cake the pear slices end up on top, making it look gratifyingly complete with no need for frosting. It does, however, scream for ice cream or whipped cream – provide a bowl of it alongside for people to serve themselves, or put a dollop on each slice. Pear gingerbread is also perfectly suitable for breakfast – in wedges with hot coffee, or smothered in plain or vanilla yogurt.

You can do it in a pie plate, or a cake plate, or a fancy plate your friend brought you just because it made her think of you. I like to melt the butter-sugar-syrup in the pan in the oven as it heats, then stir it up and lay pear slices in the puddle. The cake batter is easy to mix up – I also like to grate in a bit of fresh ginger and add a spoonful of dried ginger too, which adds a different, peppery flavour. (And if you don’t have ginger, I’ve made it with cinnamon alone, and it’s just fine.)

Whatever you bake it in, invert it onto a plate while it’s still warm, and the goo is still liquidy. If you forget and it cools, warm it up a bit in the oven to make it easier to slide out. And if some pear slices stick, simply peel them off the plate and put them back in their place on the cake, and no one will know. Besides, that’s what the whipped cream is for.

Upside-down Pear Gingerbread

AuthorJulie

Yields8 Servings

Topping:

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp Roger's Golden syrup, corn syrup or honey

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1-2 ripe but firm pears (or tart apples), thinly sliced

Gingerbread:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup dark molasses

2 tsp grated fresh ginger, or 1 tsp powdered ginger

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt, thinned with milk

Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray an 9 or 10-inch round cake pan or deep pie plate with nonstick spray.

To make the topping, melt the butter, syrup and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat or microwave it until it’s smooth. (Or combine them in the bottom of the pan, put it in the oven until it melts, then take it out and stir it with a fork until it’s smooth.) Pour the mixture over the bottom of the pan and arrange the pear slices on top, placing them tightly together – they shrink a bit as they cook, so you can even get away with overlapping them.

To make the gingerbread batter, stir or beat the butter and brown sugar in a medium bowl until well blended. Add the egg, molasses, ginger (if you're using dry, save it to add with the cinnamon) and vanilla and beat until thoroughly combined. It may look kind of curdled - that’s OK.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, dry ginger (if you're using it) and salt. Add half of the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture and stir by hand (or on low with an electric mixer) just until the batter is combined. Add the buttermilk, and then the remaining dry ingredients in the same manner. Pour the batter over the sliced pears.

Bake the cake for about 40 minutes, until the top is springy to the touch. Let it stand for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a plate while it’s still warm. (If it cools too much and sticks to the pan, warm it in the oven again before you try to invert it.) Don’t worry if any pear slices stick to the bottom of the pan – simply peel them out and place them back on top of the cake where they belong.

Serve with whipped cream. Serves 8.

Categorycake, dessert

Ingredients