Pear Upside-Down Cake

What to do with a stash of ripe fruits? Make cakes... upside down cake!

I had a stash of D'Anjou pears in my refrigerator, and they were already quite ripe. I have been having these pears for several straight weeks since they first appeared in the local market. So I had to use them, rather than let them go bad. I am not tired of these pears, I'm just salivating at the sight of Philippine mangoes (carabao mango) I haven't had for weeks. Believe me, I am as much a fan of Red D'Anjou pears as much as I am of Philippine mangoes.

I first came across these red pears during my stay in Munich (2006). I used to have them everyday for breakfast. They were sweet, juicy and somewhat soft compared to the Japanese and Korean pears. Above all, it had a perfumy quality - the smell and taste of this pear was quite strong compared to the Asian pears. It's aroma rivalled that of a musk melon (in intesity, not the actualy scent). It was like none I've eaten before! I first bought a few, then bought kilos after I've tasted them. I never found out the name while in Germany as the storekeeper near my apartment never spoke English. I had to search for it on the internet. So it was indeed a blessing when these appeared in the local supermarkets.

So off I googled and searched for a pear cake recipe and what came out were upside-down cake recipes. I adapted the one I got from marthastewart.com.

The upside-down cake I grew up eating were the pineapple ones my grandmother always bought from Princess Delan's, or those she made herself. That bakeshop was a small store in our town, and sad to say it closed down already (unless they relocated). The pineapples they used were tart, but was bathed in an overly sweet dark brown syrup, and accented with some cinnamon. The sweet and sour flavors cancelled each other, but it was an explosion of flavors, nonetheless. How can a kid not like that? Its cake base was, like most commercially-made cakes, was light, fluffy but rather dry. The syrup was supposed to help. The cake bought from the store wasn't the best, at least for me (and I know many will disagree), but it was a fun and interesting cake and definitely better than any birthday cake from any party, even my own.

Since I didn't have pineapple on hand (and I'm not a big fan of the fruit anyway - unless eaten fresh in its purest form), I decided to use the stash of pears ripening in the ref, and this cake, I thought, was one of the best ways to use them.

I thought the vanilla in the batter wasn't the most appropriate flavoring as it might come in conflict with the perfuminess of the pears. Instead, I added the grated zest of one lemon plus one teaspoon of finely grated fresh ginger. I thought of adding ginger since some recipes I came across added dried ginger and molasses. I'm not a fan of molasses, so I never gave those recipes a second thought. Ginger, especially when fresh accents the freshness of the fruits and actually complements the lemon flavor. I always use fresh instead of dried as the latter sometimes tastes "off."



Following the recipe, I arranged the pear slices on the bottom of a pan with the topping. By the way, I tossed the sweet pears with the juice of a lemon prior to arranging them. What better way to use the zested fruit than trowing it away?






The batter, even after folding in the whites was rather thick and dense. I was really concerned, but the cake came out soft and moist. Not as fluffy as a sponge cake, but moist and crumbly enough to require a fork when eating it.

I quite like this cake, and would definitely make this again, with pears or other fruit. It is good served warm or cold. Perhaps, when I need a break from my mangoes, then I will try and make a Mango Upside-down cake!