I’ve never made an ‘upside down’ cake before, not intentionally anyway beyond a disaster that ended upside down in the bin! The notion took me to try one and I must say it wasn’t all plain sailing (que crouched in front of oven watching cake batter drip over the side of cake tin). However the end result came up not too bad, so much so it was worthy of a photograph and a little mention on my blog. Feel free to experiment with the recipe, I want to try figs next! Plums, mango and peach would all work gloriously – get creative!
Pear & Ginger Upside Down (courtesy of my friend Arnald, quite the baker)
Cake Serves 8 and ready in 1.5 hours (Includes prep time)
Ingredient’s
150g butter softened, plus extra for greasing
150g light soft brown sugar 2 balls from a jar of stem ginger in syrup chopped
415g can of pears in juice, drained 125g self rasing flour
1 level tsp baking powder 2 level tsp ground ginger
1 level tsp ground cinnamon
2 large free range eggs
Method
Pre-heat oven to 180deg/160degFAN/Gas Mark 4 Lightly butter a 20cm round cake tin and line the base with baking paper Mix 25g butter with 25g sugar and spread in the base of the tin. Scatter 1 qtr of the chopped stem ginger and arrange the pears flat side down on top Sift the flour, baking powder and spices into a large bowl. Add the rest of the butter, sugar and chopped stem ginger. Add eggs and beat until well mixed. Turn into the cake tin keeping the pears in place and level the top Bake for about 35 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly pressed. Leave to cool for 10minutes and then turn out and serve upside down.
Sharon Duffin Photography 