Pear Upside-Down Cake

This is a delicious and lovely fall cake that features pears. Upside-down cakes are wonderful, because they are very easy to make and at the same time look like they were made by a master chef. One of the ingredients that sets this cake apart is the addition of cardamom. If you have never used cardamom in a recipe before, I encourage you to give this recipe a chance as the cardamom in it is subtle but really enhances the flavor of the cake. If you love pears and the taste of fall spices, give this yummy pear upside-down cake a try!

Bon Appetit

Preparation time is 30 minutes. Total time is 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 Bartlett pears; peeled, cored, and sliced into medium-sized segments
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup milk

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Add the cold butter to a 10-inch spring-form pan. Heat in the oven until melted, about 3 to 4 minutes. Swirl pan to coat the bottom with melted butter. Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar. Fan pear slices over the sugar, with pointed ends towards the center of the pan, overlapping slightly. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, baking powder, salt, and cardamom. With a mixer, beat the softened butter in a large bowl until smooth. Add the sugar and beat for 2 minutes, until creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

On low speed, beat in the flour mixture, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Spoon the batter over the pears and spread to the pan edge with a spatula. Wrap the bottom of the pan with foil and bake at 350 for 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Invert the cake onto a plate; remove side of pan. Cool to room temperature. May serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream. Sixteen servings.