:: GourmetOrange ::: Upside Down Caramel Pear Cake

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Upside Down Caramel Pear Cake

I normally have little luck in baking, either look pretty & not edible OR edible & look terrible.
Here's my 1st successful attempt of baking a cake that is edible & look pretty fancy !!

Source : Sydney Morning Herald (Good Living magazine 02/03/2010)

This cake is easy to make & looks devine, The sticky brown caramel glazes the pears & seeps into the cake, making it moist & delicious. SErve warm from the oven with vanilla ice cream for a decadent dessert.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
3 firm pears
2 large eggs
1/3 cup raw sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
100 gr unsalted butter, melted
1 cup self raising flour

Method:

Preheat fan forsec oven to 170C (190C conventional).
Grease a 20 centimetre cake tin with removeable base & line the bottom with baking paper.
Put sugar & water in a small saucepan & warm gently until sugar dissolves.
Increase the hear & cook until the liquid is a light caramel colour.
Pour into the tin & swirl around to cover the base.
Peel, core & quarter pears & arrange on top of the caramel, with points facing towards the centre.
Beat eggs with raw sugar, vanilla, orange & lemon zest.
Add melted butter.
Mix in flour.
Place spoonfuls of batter over the top of the pears & gently spread, so as not to disturb the pears.
Bake in oven for 30-40 mintues or until the cake is set in the centre.
Remove from oven & turn out on to a plate while cake is still hot.

My little Tips:

2 pears is sufficient if they are medium-large size ( I did it with 2 pears - cut into 6 for each)
I found it is easier to peel the pears before starting to make the cake, we can stick the pears to the caramel based cake tin
Making the caramel is a little tricky, do not leave them to dissolve by itself/ you might burnt the sugar
Place cake tin into another cake tray, just in case the caramel run a little wild