upside down pear, ginger and hazelnut cake

upside down pear, ginger and hazelnut cake

• 15 Oct 2013

Hi Every-one,

Do you remember the upside down apple cake I made a few weeks ago? I promised/threatened there were more versions in the wing and here is the first of many. 



This is not the first time I've made an upside down pear cake but I wanted to simplify things a little.



As there is no creaming of butter and sugar in this recipe, you simply mix wet and dry ingredients together, once you've assembled all the ingredients this is fairly quick to put together.



If it looks pretty similar to the apple cake recipe it is. I subbed out a few ingredients, swapped a few more and kept my fingers crossed! 




I used corella pears for the topping because they fitted nicely in the tin and used a very ripe Packham pear for the cake batter.




Here's the recipe for you.

Upside Pear Ginger and Hazelnut Cake (makes one 8 cm x 21.5 cm loaf)
Topping
20g (¾ oz) unsalted butter, melted
3 tbs light brown sugar
3 small corella pears, peeled, halved and core
a few toasted skinned hazelnuts, halved

Cake
1¼ cups diced peeled pear
1 (20 ml) tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup plain flour
¼ cup hazelnut meal
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
100 g (3½ oz) melted, unsalted butter
⅓ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
30 g (1oz) finely chopped glace or crystallised ginger
a few tbsp milk extra

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a small loaf tin (8cm x 21.5 cm) with baking paper.

Combine the diced pear and the lemon juice in a small bowl. Set to one side for 20 minutes.

Spoon the melted butter over the base of the tin and top with the brown sugar. Place the pear halves cut side down and arrange the halved hazelnuts decoratively over the brown sugar. Place the tin to one side whilst making the cake.

Sift the flour, ginger and bicarbonate of soda into a small bowl. Stir  the hazelnut meal through the flour and set to one side.

In a medium size bowl combine the melted butter, the sugars and vanilla. Add the egg and beat until well combined.

Add the flour and gently fold in the diced pear and juice and the finely chopped ginger. This should make a soft batter. If not then add a few tablespoons of milk.

Spoon the batter carefully over the pear halves in the prepared cake tin and smooth the top. Place the cake tin on a baking sheet to catch any drips and place on the middle shelf in the oven and bake for 50 - 60 minutes at 180°C/350°F or until the cake is cooked when tested. 

If the cake is browning too quickly you may have to cover the top with a piece of greaseproof paper.

Place the tin on a wire rack and allow the cake to cool. Please avoid the temptation to turn the cake out while it’s still warm because it will fall apart. When the cake is cool, remove it from the tin and carefully invert the cake discarding the lining paper.



I made the cake on a Sunday and had a slice then. It was good. I took the cake into work and had another slice 2 days later and the ginger flavour had intensified, which I think made it even better. The cake is very moist and I think it will work really well as a hot pudding, so I'm going to start work on that version in the nearish future.

I'm not sure when I'll next post or from where but I'm hoping to bring you some travel photos from my trip to Tasmania. 

Until then,  

Jillian