This pear cake was born out of necessity. As a mother of two, I have spent the past 20 plus years trying to coax my boys into eating fruit. Up until quite recently, the only fruit they would eat were apples. Only apples. And they HAVE to be Pink Ladies. Now, I have nothing against apples – they are perfectly fine. But when that’s all they eat it can be a tad frustrating. Over the years I’ve sliced watermelon, halved peaches, cut nectarines, hulled strawberries, de-stemmed grapes, peeled bananas, segmented oranges, chopped mangoes and offered every conceivable fruit imaginable to no avail.
When they were at school I would enviously watch other children gorge on all the different choices of fruit served up on the morning tea fruit platter while mine would be left with the few slices of apple turning brown. I couldn’t understand it. I LOVE fruit and have always encouraged my boys to try new food. As someone who loves food, I’ve always cooked home made meals and bought fresh seasonal produce – I envisaged my children would eat everything. I’d be a a super mum who could brag about how well her children ate and their developed palates. But no. I couldn’t even get them past apples.
But – I have finally had a victory. It took my son 16 years, but he has finally, FINALLY, discovered the world of new fruit! After school one afternoon I was cutting up a few things to offer for afternoon tea. I normally cube up some cheese, a bit of cold meat, some crackers or bread and I slice up some apple. Well on this day I had a pear in the fruit bowl and sliced up half an apple and half a pear. I gave it to him and went back to the kitchen, expecting him to eat everything but the pear and I’d probably end up eating it myself. But he returned the plate clean. Empty. I stared in wonder – he actually ate the slices of pear AND didn’t even mention it.
As I was trying not to jump up and down with excitement (act cool – act cool) I casually said “how’d you like the pear?” to which he answered “not bad”. Not bad! I felt like I’d been at base camp for 16 years and had finally climbed Mount Everest. I even phoned his brother (who still only eats apples) who is away at university; “guess what? Your brother now eats pears!” – as if I was telling him he just got straight A’s – “you should try one”. “Nah, I’ll be right” was his answer. I guess you take your victories when you can.
So of course I went out and bought a truckload of pears. My fruit bowl was finally decorated with more than one colour. I was so proud of myself. Every afternoon I would happily slice up pears and add them to my son’s afternoon platter. But after a few days, I noticed the plate was coming back with a few slices of pear still there. As days went by, more and more slices were left on the plate. I asked him: “why aren’t you eating the pears, I thought you liked them now?”. His answer: “they’re ok – but I don’t want to eat them every day”.
OK. I needed to back up. I was going a bit overboard with this whole pear thing. The last thing I wanted was to turn him off them. I decided to only offer them up a few times a week. The only problem was that in my excitement I had bought so many pears I didn’t know what to do with them. So I started eating pears every day, but even then I couldn’t get through them. They started getting to the wrong side of ripe and being someone who can’t bear to throw food away, plus the fact that my dog won’t eat pears, I had to come up with a way to use them.
This cake is the result.
It is such a beautiful looking cake – but what makes it special is its taste. When you take a bite you get a chunk of soft, cinnamon and star anise spiked pears – sweet and velvety – followed by a moist, buttery cake that just melts in your mouth.
I poached the pears first, which sounds a bit technical, but really it’s just a matter of peeling them and adding them to a mix of sugar and water. I added some star anise and cinnamon for flavour. Then all you do is let them simmer away until the pears are tender. Then sprinkle a little brown sugar onto the base of a cake tin lined with baking paper, place the pear halves in, cut side down, and pour the batter over the top. As it cooks, the pears bake into the cake so when you turn it out they are embedded into the top. I drizzled a little of the poaching liquid ( after boiling it for a while to thicken it) over the top – but this is optional.
I like this cake warm, and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or a spoonful of cream would go down nicely.
I’m so glad my son finally eats pears. Not only is he expanding his tastes, it prompted me to make this cake! I wonder what I can convince him to start eating next?
Upside Down Pear Cake
Ingredients:
Pears:
3 pears, peeled, halved and cores removed
1 cup sugar
5 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
Cake:
180g sugar
160g butter, room temperature, diced
2 eggs
200g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp brown sugar
Method:
To poach the pears, put the water and sugar into a medium saucepan and stir over moderate heat until sugar is dissolved. Add the cinnamon and star anise and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the pears and simmer for around 20 minutes, or until pears are tender. You still want them to hold their shape.
Carefully remove the pears from the liquid and set aside to cool. If you want to drizzle the syrup over the cake at the end, put the pot back on the heat and bring to the boil. Cook for 15 minutes, or until liquid has reduced and has become syrupy. Set aside to cool.
Preheat your oven to 180 C ( 160 C fan forced) and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper.
To make the cake batter, put the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating in-between additions.
Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, milk and vanilla and fold with a spatula so that everything is combined and batter is smooth.
Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the base of the cake tin. Add the poached pears, cut side down, then pour the cake batter over the top. Smooth the top with a knife or spatula so it is even.
Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow to sit in the tin for 15 minutes to settle before carefully turning out onto a plate. Peel away the baking paper which may be stuck to the top. Drizzle a few tablespoons of the syrup over the top if you like.
Eat warm or cold.
Serves 8 – 10
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