Recipe: Maple Pear Upside Down Cake

Posted on | November 13, 2009 | 16 Comments

I know what your thinking, She burnt the cake. I thought I did too. I was overdoing the multi-tasking this morning and smelled the sugar burning from the third floor of my house. I ran downstairs and thought I totally screwed the cake up. I pulled it out of the oven annoyed at myself that I didn’t just make the cake when I had more time. I took a few photos for whatever reason. Made some whip cream that I also overwhipped. Again, answering e-mails from the third floor with the Kitchen Aid mixer on full blast in the kitchen. I know better but I was having one those, I just have to get it done moments.

I sampled a slice with my butter like whip cream and to my surprise it was delicious. Not burnt at all. How can a cake that looks burnt not be burnt you ask? Maybe the top is so dark because of the maple syrup grade and the dark brown sugar I used. Who cares anyway, it’s delicious. I should have layered the pears more but besides that it’s awesome. All my favorite flavors of fall: maple, brown sugar, vanilla, and pears.

Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman. Watch a how to video on the nytimes.com.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients
11 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 to 4 pears, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a small pan over medium heat; add maple syrup and brown sugar and cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook for another 2 minutes; remove from heat and set aside. When mixture has cooled a bit, pour it into a 9-inch baking pan and arrange pear slices in an overlapping circle on top.

2. With a handheld or standing mixer, beat remaining 8 tablespoons butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, one egg at a time, continuing to mix until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in three batches, alternating with milk; do not overmix. Carefully spread batter over pears, using a spatula to make sure it is evenly distributed. Bake until top of cake is golden brown and edges begin to pull away from sides of pan, about 45 to 50 minutes; a toothpick inserted into center should come out clean. Let cake cool for 5 minutes.

4. Run a knife around edge of pan; put a plate on top of cake and carefully flip it so plate is on bottom and pan is on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Category: recipes, sweets

Comments

16 Responses to “Recipe: Maple Pear Upside Down Cake”

Lori D.
November 13th, 2009 @ 3:53 pm

It looks delicious, I love maple syrup in/on anything!
hmstrjam
November 13th, 2009 @ 5:28 pm

looks syrupy sweet brown sugary good, and I can smell the maple from here! Saw this in the times yesterday, you beat me to it!
Brittany Noel
November 13th, 2009 @ 5:43 pm

this looks so good. i have to try this! i think i’ll try tomorrow. mmmmm…

i would’ve thought it was burnt, too!
Valerie
November 13th, 2009 @ 8:49 pm

I’ll try to do this tomorrow .. looks delicious!!
denise (chez danisse)
November 13th, 2009 @ 10:21 pm

I think it looks excellent and caramelized–yum!
silk
November 14th, 2009 @ 9:19 am

This looks delicious! I’ll have to try this recipe someday soon!
Bee
November 14th, 2009 @ 9:34 am

This looks wonderful… it’s going on my “to do” list.

Off-topic: I’ve been reading and enjoying your blog for a while now. Are you happy with the new format? Because I’m still finding it hard to adjust to the complete lack of ‘margin’ on the left side… or is that just a fault of my computer screen? I don’t get that effect elsewhere, so was wondering if/how it could be changed (?)
Katy Elliott
November 14th, 2009 @ 11:32 am

Hi Bee, I’ll look into the margin problem and see if it can be fixed. If you expand the window white space does appear on the left side.

Thanks!
abby jenkins
November 14th, 2009 @ 2:29 pm

Oh heavenly sweetness! that looks better than a big copper french pot on a shelf at the Goodwill!
Kathy G
November 14th, 2009 @ 7:34 pm

I had forgotten this recipe…it used to be part of my best loved deserts. In my recipe you cut the pears in half not slices so that you end up with those hollows(where the core was) full of all the good goop…yes… we used to fight over those middles!…and btw…did you ever try using those flexible rubbery pans …they work GREAT for upside down cakes.
Katy Elliott
November 15th, 2009 @ 12:46 am

The margin problem should be fixed!
Bee
November 15th, 2009 @ 10:53 am

Yay, I see white space! Much easier on the eyes. Thanks so much. Now I can focus on baking that cake! ;-)
Anna
November 16th, 2009 @ 9:54 am

This looks delicious, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the haphazard placement of the pears…it’s nice, actually.
I have a decorating on a budget question for you, but each attempt to email you has gone nowhere because I don’t it takes me directly to the mac mail application, which I don’t have set up on my computer. Would you mind to let me know your address, so that I can be in touch? You can reach me at annaigou@yahoo.com. Thanks!
Teresa
November 16th, 2009 @ 1:58 pm

This looks positively heavenly!! Thank you for so generously sharing the recipe. :)
Esther
November 17th, 2009 @ 1:55 pm

Hello Katy!
I live in Germany and I read your site every day,i love it.And I will try the maple syrup cake !!!
Erica
November 22nd, 2009 @ 6:55 pm

I made this cake today after seeing it on your blog. It was delicious! I realized too late that the way to fan out the pear slices is by starting in the middle (but now I know!). So I just put my three pears worth of slices haphazardly in a big pile. It was delicious and moist (and a very light golden color). I used a silicon pan and it popped right out. Thanks for sharing the recipe — everyone loved it over here :)