Fruity Upside-Down Cakes are a proper retro treat. Pear Upside-Down Cake is a little different, but still fantastically fruity, syrupy, and delicious!
I remember my mum making upside-down cakes when I was little. Pineapple I think. It’s hard to remember.
They always seemed really easy. Actually, my mum makes most baking seem easy. It’s something that I love but doesn’t come quite as naturally to me.
Whenever I make celebration cakes there’s plenty of Facetime to my mum for help and advice even now. To be fair though, she’s on the phone to me if she’s making anything with yeast in. Together, we’re the perfect baker!
Anyway, upside-down cakes are super, and they remind me of childhood, and I love pears, so do the kids. Hence, Upside Down Cake with Pear is always a win.
What is Upside Down Cake?
An upside-down pear sponge cake is a really simple, sweet, and fruity cake.
It’s not upside-down really, in the end.
It’s baked upside-down. So you add the pears, or whatever fruit you are using (pineapple rings are traditional) to the bottom of the pan, with a caramelly butter and brown sugar mix, before tipping the cake batter on top.
You then tip the cake out of the tin, so it’s the right way up.
Usually, when I make a cake with self-raising flour I skip the baking powder, but because a Pear Upside Down Cake Recipe has a heavy top, with the fruit and caramel weighing down the sponge when it’s removed from the tin, I think adding a tsp of baking powder with the flour just gives it a little more and helps it to hold together.
However, that weight means that an Easy Upside Down Cake is denser than your usual sponge cake, despite using the same basic cake recipe.
I think that density works well with such a fruity, syrupy top though.
How Do You Stop an Upside-Down Cake Getting Soggy?
This really depends on how wet your pears are.
If you’ve got very juicy pears, blotting them with a little kitchen roll or a clean towel to dry them off as much as you can, will help to ensure your cake isn’t soggy.
If your pears aren’t as juicy, the risks of your pear cake being soggy are less.
When Should I Flip My Pear Upside Down Cake?
Leaving the Upside-down Pear Cake in the tin to cool for 10 minutes before tipping it out of the tin also gives it chance to firm up, and almost set, which again reduces the risk of a soggy or overly moist cake.
I leave it for at least 10 minutes, a little longer won’t hurt, but don’t leave it to cool completely, as the syrup will set and get very firm.
Removing your pear cake from the tin before it’s cool also means that you can eat a slice while it’s still warm, which is absolutely delicious!
How Do You Remove an Upside-Down Cake from the Pan?
When making any Recipe for Pear Upside Down Cake, removing it from the tin is probably what people worry about the most.
But, removing an upside-down cake from the tin is typically easier than you might expect.
I don’t bother to grease the bottom of the pan, because you add butter and sugar before the fruit and cake batter. But, if you are more comfortable greasing, it won’t hurt.
If you want a little more security, you could line your tin with greaseproof paper, or a silicone liner to stop any risk of sticking and make removing the cake easier.
I find using a fairly shallow tin, so that it hasn’t got as far to fall, helps.
You could also run a sharp knife, palette knife or thin spatula lightly around the edges before tipping.
Then, place a large plate over the tin, and carefully turn it over. Remove the tin slowly, and the cake should stay on the plate.
Why Does My Upside-Down Cake Sink in the Middle?
If your Pear Upside-Down Cake has sunk in the middle, there’s usually one of two reasons.
First, you may have used too much rising agent. Too much baking powder means that the cake rises drastically when it bakes, and so has to fall as it cools.
Secondly, I often find that my cakes sink a little in the middle if I remove them from the tin as soon as they come out of the oven. The sudden temperature change, and fast cooling leads to a sink. Try cooling in the tin for a little longer, allowing the sponge to set (but not that long that the syrup sets) a little more.
It could also be simply because the top is too heavy for the sponge. Try using thinner slices of pear, or less pear.
How to Store a Pear Upside Down Cake
I don’t usually recommend keeping cakes in the fridge, but I would advise keeping a Pear Upside-Down cake in the fridge if possible.
If you are eating it fairly quickly, it will be fine on the side, but if it’s very hot, or you want it to stay fresh for more than a day I’d pop it in the fridge.
More Recipes You Might Enjoy
Classic Pear Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
For the Topping
- 50 g Light brown sugar
- 50 g Butter or Margarine
- 3 Pears (cored, peeled, and sliced)
For the Base
- 170 g Caster sugar
- 170 g Butter or Margarine (at room temperature)
- 3 Eggs
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 170 g Self-raising flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees and grease the sides of your cake tin.
- In a small saucepan gently melt together the brown sugar and 50g of butter for the topping.
- Pour into the cake tin and spread evenly.
- Carefully place in the pear slices, covering as much of the tin as you can.
- In a large mixing bowl cream together the 170g butter for the cake and caster sugar until light and fluffy (this takes 2 minutes with an electric whisk, and a little longer by hand).
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding the vanilla with the last egg.
- sift in the flour and baking powder and mix until well combined and smooth.
- Pour over the pears.
- Bake in the oven for 35 minutes, until golden brown and cooked in the centre (test to see if a skewer comes out clean).
- Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before very carefully tipping out on to a plate, so that the pears ore on the top.
Notes
- I bake my cake in a 9″ tin.
Any nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate. The information is provided using an online calculator and is specific to my ingredients. Please make your own calculations if you want precise information.
