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pear raspberry upside down cake
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Pear Raspberry Upside-Down Cake

This Pear Raspberry Upside-Down Cake is the best of summer and the celebration of what is to come in fall. I started by caramelizing the pears, as I would for a tarte tatin. Slow and steady is the trick to getting the right flavor and texture. The combination of the caramel pears, the bright raspberries and the rich cake is pretty close to perfection.
Course: cake, Desserts
Cuisine: Desserts
Author: Zoë François

Ingredients

  • 12 small pears (seckel or summer crisp) or 6 large bosc pears, peeled, cored and halved stems removed THEY SHOULD BE FIRM, SO THEY TAKE LONGER TO COOK. If they are too soft, they will cook too quickly and not take on as much of the caramel flavor.
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp unsalted butter
  • pinch salt
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1/2 cup raspberries optional

Cake Batter

  • 1 cup (136g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch salt
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup (150g) brown sugar tightly packed
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract make your own
  • Zest of 1/2 orange
  • 1 stick (113g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 6 oz (170g) fresh raspberries

Instructions

Pears

  • In a 9-inch pan (I used a Mauviel tarte tatin pan (note the one linked here is 11 inches), but a 9-inch Lodge cast iron would also work) melt the butter, sugar, cinnamon sticks and raspberries, add the pears and cook over low heat until they are caramelized. This can take up to an hour, depending on how firm the pears are.

Cake

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla and zest. Add the butter to the egg mixture. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions. Fold in raspberries.
  • Gently spoon the cake batter over the caramelized pears. Gently spread the batter over the pear, so that is covers the pears, but is not pushed down between the pears.
  • Bake for about 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Let the cake cool for a couple of minutes before running a knife around the pan and inverting onto a serving plate. Add fresh raspberries to the top. Serve warm or at room temperature. With or without ice cream.

Notes

The cake batter was inspired by Dorie Greenspan's rhubarb upside-down brown sugar cake in Baking Chez Moi.