This Pear Ginger Upside Down Cake has a buttery candied ginger cake topped with a pear candied ginger brown sugar top.
So the majority of my cookbooks are packed up (it took 21 boxes :P), and that is with me keeping out 22 “just in case” I needed them (is what I told my husband).
Yet I still felt compelled to buy a cookbook this week.
In my defense, it was pre-ordered so I actually forgot about it.
I am a big fan of The Pastry Queen cookbook and have many a wonderful delight from that cookbook, some have even made it onto the blog.
So I was very excited to see a while back that Rebecca Rather (the author) was coming out with another cookbook…with this one focusing on Christmas!
Oh happy day.
I quickly pre-ordered that baby on Amazon and then forgot.
So it was a fun surprise getting it this past week.
This cookbook, like the last one did not disappoint, though it has far few dessert recipes in it.
Which is fine since, believe it or not, we do eat things around here other than pastry and sweets.
The original recipe leaves the pear in slices(to lazy to make them all pretty) and has a wonderful sounding Amaretto whipped cream.
I opted to drizzle caramel over mine since I had it in the fridge and I am trying to clean that out.
We sign our life away today, gulp.
Such a surreal feeling, owing all that money to someone.
Gulp. We should have our keys on Friday and that is when the fun begins.
Tips to Inverting a Cake:
People will skip recipes that involve inverting a pan I have noticed. And I get it.
Because a lot of times the cake likes to hang onto the pan.
- First, loosen the cake from the sides of the pan by running a sharp paring knife around the edges.
- Choose a platter that’s considerable larger than your pan.
- Excess sauce might run off the edges of a too-small platter/plate.
- Place the platter/plate on top of the cake, grasp the pan bottom and platter/plate bottom with both hands (use a kitchen towel or oven mitts if the pan is still hot) and quickly flip the pan and platter/plate so the pan is now on the top and the platter on the bottom.
- Gently put the two down on a wire rack rest for five minutes.
- Gravity will help release the cake from the pan.
- Then lift and hope for the best. 😛
P.S. It’s a great day to buymy cookbookHoly Sweet!
Want More Pear Recipes?
Honey Pear Ginger Bread Pudding
Pear Nutmeg Creme Caramel
Gorgonzola Walnut and Pear Flatbread
Pear Nutmeg Bread Pudding
Honey Pear Jam Walnut Swirl Bread
Ingredients
- For the Topping:
- ½ cup salted butter
- ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 ripe pears, (I used a red variety that was described as sweet…but forgot the name :P)…the book suggests Anjou or Bartlett
- 2 TBSP finely chopped candied ginger
- For the Cake:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- ½ cup milk
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 TBSP finely chopped candied ginger
- store bought caramel sauce for drizzle
Instructions
- For the Topping:
- Chop pears into a dice, leaving the skins on; set aside.
- In a medium saucepan combine butter and sugar and bring to a boil.
- Take off of heat and whisk just to combine and pour into prepared pan.(This recipe calls for a 9 or 10-inch cake pan with sides that are at least 2 inches tall.)
- Sprinkle pears all over the pan and then followed by candied ginger. Set aside.
- For the Cake:
- Using an stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a hand held mixer), cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the eggs and beat for another 30 seconds.
- Stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.
- To the butter mixture, add the flour mixture in 3 increments, the milk in two, starting and ending with the flour, beating on low speed between each addition.
- Stir in the vanilla and candied ginger.
- Pour the batter evenly over the pears.
- Bake (at 350F)for about 45 minutes if using a 10-inch pan and about 55 minutes for a 9-incher.
- The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and immediately invert onto a large cake plate.
- Let cool for about 15 minutes. Best when served warm.
- Drizzle with caramel sauce (store bought in my case) or top with ice cream or whipped cream.
