Ginger-Pear Upside Down Cake

Written By Alison Mahan

This delicious treat was made by a friend for a neighborhood gathering and we are excited to share this new recipe using Midtown Mix Almond Cake Mix. Make sure to check out the other recipes that use this mix as well!

For a gorgeous treat, use sliced ripe pears in a maple ginger glaze on top of a ginger-flavored almond cake

You provide:

Supplies & Equipment:

  • Sauté pan

  • 8 or 9” cake pan (If you use a springform, put a baking sheet underneath to catch sugar drips)

  • Parchment (not wax) paper - essential for this recipe

  • Mixing bowl and whisk

Ingredients:

For pear topping:

  • 1-2 fresh pears

  • 3 tablespoons of butter (or coconut oil for vegan alternative)

  • 3/4 cup maple syrup

  • 1/4 cup brown sugar

  • 1/2” of sliced ginger OR 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger

    For cake:

  • 3 eggs (or favorite vegan egg replacer)

  • 1/2 cup of butter (use olive oil for vegan alternative)

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 3 teaspoons ground ginger

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F and line baking pan with parchment. Grease sides of pan with oil or butter.

Step 1:

Slice pears and remove stems and seeds. Pears can be peeled if desired, but it is not necessary as peels will soften while baking. Set aside.

Melt butter in sauté pan over medium heat and add maple syrup, brown sugar and sliced or ground ginger. Heat until sugar is dissolved and then let mixture boil while stirring for 2-3 minutes and mixture is thickened a bit. If using sliced ginger, pull pieces out of mixture (these make a delicious treat once they cool!)

Cook until sugar mixture lightly coats a metal spoon. Fish out whole ginger pieces (if using) before pouring into baking pan

Step 2:

Pour sugar mixture into the bottom of prepared baking dish and move dish to spread mixture evenly. Add pears on top of sugar mixture while it is still warm. Arrange in concentric circles, or go for a more organic look - it doesn’t matter! Set pan aside while preparing cake batter

Step 3:

Melt butter in microwave in 10-15 second increments, then add eggs, and vanilla. Sprinkle ground ginger into liquid mix, it has a tendency to clump, so sprinkling will help distribute it. Add all of the Midtown Mix Almond Cake Mix and whisk until combined. Pour batter onto pears in the cake pan.

Step 4:

Bake at 350°F for 40-45 minutes, looking for center to be set and cake to be pulling away from the sides of the pan. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes before using a knife to release sides and turning over onto serving dish.

Cake should pull away from sides of pan once fully cooked

Tips and Ideas:

While perfectly arranged fruit is a wonder to behold, an even layer of delicious pear will be delicious no matter how it looks

If you love ginger, you can amp up the flavor even more by increasing the amount of ground ginger in the cake or sugar mixture

If bringing the cake to an event, you can keep it in the pan and turn it out once you arrive

Alison Mahan
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