Upside Down Pear Almond Cake

My niece, Mare has a lovely pear tree in her yard.  She was generous enough to part with a branch or two. This made for good eating on their own but also, inspired me to make a lovely coffee cake with this wonderful fall fruit.  

Pears and almonds are excellent taste companions and this combo gives the cake a heavenly taste. Enhanced by some caramel, simply divine.

Now here's a tip.  You can mix up the recipe by using the same batter and changing the fruit.  Try apples and walnuts, peaches with pecans or almonds.  How about a good old fashioned pineapple upside down cake using canned and drained crushed pineapple and some maraschino cherries?

Don't let your coffee be lonely.  It pines for a slice of this yummylicious gateau! 

Here's what you'll need:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

                  Caramel:

                      1/4 C brown sugar

                            2 T butter

                  Cake:

                      3 medium pears, peeled, 

                            cored and sliced

                            1/4 C sliced almonds

                            1 1/3 C C all purpose flour

                            3/4 C sugar

                            1/4 C butter

                            2/3 C milk

                            1 egg, beaten

                            2 t baking powder

                            1/2 t salt

                            1 t vanilla

 

Spray a 9 inch spring form pan with non-stick spray.

Peel, core and slice the pears.

I cut them in quarters, then slice each section into thin slices.

Melt 2 T butter in small pan over medium heat.

Add brown sugar.

If you want your cake really caramelly, double the amount.

For me, this is perfect and not too much.

Stir together until it looks like this.

Spread over bottom of spring form pan.

Now sprinkle the almonds over the caramel.

Arrange the pears slices over the almonds.

It doesn't have to be perfect.  Mine isn't!

Melt the 1/4 C butter in the microwave 20 secs at 50% power.

Make sure it's cool before you add the egg so it won't cook!

In a small bowl, mix together butter, egg, milk and vanilla. 

In a medium sized bowl, mix flour, sugar, soda and salt.

I actually used Splenda instead of sugar to reduce calories. 

It turned out great!

 

Pour liquid mix into dry mix.

Blend together completely. 

Thoroughly mixed batter should look like this. 

Pour batter over pears. 

Spread evenly to edges.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Invert on serving plate. 

What a beauty!

Glistening caramelized pears!

 

Serve with a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream...

or vanilla ice cream.

And you know what?  It's perfect completely on its own!

Addendum!
One of my blog devotees made this with peaches and pecans.
Here are some pics from Nora's creation.
A must try!

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