Gingered Pear Brown Butter Upside Down Cake

Gingered Pear Brown Butter Upside Down Cake

Sliced juicy pears are sprinkled with crystallized ginger, topped with a bourbon brown butter glaze and then bake under a brown butter and vanilla buttermilk cake. Recipe yields 8 to 12 servings depending.

Course Desserts & Sweet Treats

Cuisine American

Keyword bourbon, brown butter, ginger, pears, vanilla bean

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 35

Total Time 1 35

Servings slices

Calories 267

Author Laurie McNamara

Equipment

Ingredients

nonstick baking spray with flour

FOR THE PEAR LAYER:

2 semi-firm Bosc pears peeled, cored and cut into eighths
2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 cup browned butter divided
2 tablespoon bourbon or water
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 pinch fine salt

FOR THE CAKE:

1½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting pan
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 1 bean scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

MAKE THE PEAR LAYER:

Preheat your oven to 350°F (or 180°C).
Line the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper and spray with a nonstick baking spray with flour.
Fan out as many pear slices in the bottom of the cake pan and sprinkle with the crystallized ginger.
Brown 1/2 cup of unsalted butter in a skillet over medium heat until the milk solids bubble and froth and eventually turn golden brown. Measure 1/4 cup and set off to the side to use in the cake.
To the remaining brown butter in the saucepan add the light brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Stirring until combined. Lastly, pour in the bourbon, stir and o ce incorporated, pour the bourbon brown butter mixture over the pears and set off to the side.

MAKE THE CAKE:

In a large mixing bowl, measure and add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and fine salt. Whisk to combine. In a liquid measuring cup, measure and add buttermilk, eggs and vanilla bean paste. Whisk well to combine and then pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Switch to a spatula, and stir until combined. Lastly, pour in the reserved (1/4 cup) brown butter. Once combined, pour the batter over top of the pears and spread evenly.
Bake the cake on the middle rack of your preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
Let cool for 30 minutes. Run a knife around the cake before inverting onto a platter (or cake stand) and slowly lifting off the pan. Peel parchment off of the top of the cake. Let cake cool for 30 minutes or so before slicing and serving.
I like to dust it with powdered sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

Nutrition