Honey-Glazed Pear Upside-Down Cake
- Total Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ¼cup chestnut or other intense honey
- 4small or 3 large Bosc pears, peeled, quartered lengthwise and cored
- 3sprigs fresh thyme (optional)
- 1cup sugar
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 2large eggs
- 1tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1cup all-purpose flour
- ¼teaspoon salt
- ½cup (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ¼cup sliced almonds
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
417 calories; 16 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 65 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 46 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 95 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 9-inch ovenproof skillet (not nonstick), simmer honey until it begins to reduce, caramelize and darken in color, 6 to 10 minutes. Do not let honey burn; if it starts to smell burned, turn off heat.
- Step 2
Arrange pears, close together and cut-side up, in a circular pattern in skillet, stem ends pointing toward center. Simmer over medium heat, turning them from one cut side to the other, until they begin to turn golden, about 10 minutes.
- Step 3
Flip pears over to cut-side down and scatter with thyme sprigs if using. Transfer skillet to oven and roast, uncovered, until very tender, about 25 minutes.
- Step 4
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together sugar and lemon zest. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Fold in flour and salt; stir in ½ cup butter.
- Step 5
When pears are soft, remove skillet from oven, discard thyme sprigs and brush edges of pears with remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter. Pour batter on roasted pears and scatter almonds over batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cake cool for 30 minutes in pan. Run an offset spatula along edges of pan to loosen cake; carefully invert cake onto a serving platter. Serve warm or cooled.
Private Notes
Comments
you don't need to do all this simmering and pre cooking of the pears! you will end up with pear mush. Just place your pears over the honey glaze in an attractive pattern, pour over the batter and bake. Delicious.
Delicious cake. We went with halved pears (much easier to turn)and we loved the way they looked. Only problem with the recipe is the instruction to let the cake cool for 30 minutes before turning it out of the pan. Because of a fear that the caramel-like honey/pear juice in the bottom of the pan would solidify, we turned it out almost immediately and it was perfect. The thyme (we used fresh- picked lemon thyme) was a brilliant addition.
I make this with some frequency. Sometimes I go with brown sugar and butter instead of honey because honey taste is too overwhelming for me. Like but not LOVE honey. I often have trouble getting this cake to release from the pan, so I have started to do this in my cast iron skillet lined with a sheet of parchment large enough to come over the top of the skillet. Then I can easily lift it out, set it on a plate and flip it.
Can this be made a couple of days ahead for the holiday or do we think it will get too soggy?
Divine. Used cast iron pan lightly rubbed with olive oil. Reduced sugar to 1/3 cup. Was distracted while peeling pears. Some still had skin! No matter. Used crushed pistachios instead of almonds as I didn’t have that ingredient. A low “tarte like” confection.
Simmered the halved ripe pears for a bit in the honey and put in bottom of parchment lined spring form with a few leaves of thyme. 1.5'd the cake batter with soda and baking powder. Topped with ground almonds. Baked for 30 mins at 180 c.