Upside Down Pear Gingerbread Cake

  4.4 – 24 reviews  • Upside-Down Cake Recipes

Delicious and simple to prepare. The ideal sweet to finish off a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal.

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 45 mins
Additional Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 2 hrs 5 mins
Servings: 12
Yield: 1 10-inch cake

Ingredients

  1. 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  2. 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  3. 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  4. 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  5. 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  6. ½ teaspoon salt
  7. ¼ cup butter
  8. ¼ cup brown sugar
  9. 1 (29 ounce) can pear halves, well drained
  10. ½ cup white sugar
  11. ½ cup butter, softened
  12. 1 egg
  13. 1 cup molasses
  14. 1 cup hot water

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a bowl, lightly mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt until thoroughly combined.
  2. Place 1/4 cup of butter into a 10-inch springform pan, put it in the oven, and allow to melt for a minute or two. Sprinkle the melted butter evenly with brown sugar. Pat the pear halves dry with paper towels, and cut each half into 3 slices lengthwise. Arrange the pear slices in a spiral pattern on top of the brown sugar. Without disturbing the arranged slices, spray the inside walls of the pan with cooking spray.
  3. Beat the white sugar and 1/2 cup of butter in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until creamy; beat in the egg, then mix in the molasses. Mix the flour mixture into the molasses mixture, then stir in the hot water. Pour the batter into the springform pan on top of the pear slices.
  4. Bake the cake in the preheated oven until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.
  5. Allow to cool completely in the pan before inverting on a serving dish and removing pan.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 368 kcal
Carbohydrate 63 g
Cholesterol 46 mg
Dietary Fiber 2 g
Protein 4 g
Saturated Fat 8 g
Sodium 358 mg
Sugars 35 g
Fat 12 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Jonathan King
I made as written, except for 2 things. I have pear trees, so used fresh pears versus canned. I also used blackstrap molasses as that is the type of molasses I had. I have heard that this type is a bit more bitter, therefore probably would satisfy those who think the cake was too sweet as written. The cake turned out nicely moist, and I didn’t find it overly sweet at all. Nicely spiced, I will definitely make again.
Patricia Price
Easy and delicious. I didn’t have a springform an, so I used two 9 in cake pans. Two for onesie.
Robert Smith
I used a bundt pan & loved how this turned out!
Lindsey Gamble
Followed the recipe exactly and was very pleased with the outcome. The family loved it. As someone else pointed out, however, make sure your spring form pan is nice and tight, otherwise you’ll end up with a mess on your hands. Nice texture and not too sweet. Loved it.
Michael Cervantes
Very easy, comes out perfect…wonderful for entertaining
Amanda Daugherty
This came out delicious. I made sure not to overcook it and it was very moist with caramel edge. The only changes I made was that I didn’t have enough molasses so I only use about 1/4 cup and the rest was dark Karo syrup. After tasting that I would probably not use an entire cup of molasses because it may be too strong for my taste. The only problem I had was that my springform pan leaked so I cooked it on a cookie sheet . I’m not sure how to avoid this. Overall everyone loved it, even my mom who doesn’t eat a lot of sweets!
Kenneth Neal
The cake itself is very good, but the directions need a bit of tweaking. To begin, as mentioned by several other people, if you bake it in a spring form pan, the brown sugar-butter will definitely leak all over your oven. Wrapping the outside of the spring form pan with foil should help with this. If you decide to bake it in a regular 10 inch cake pan to avoid the leaking problem, there is way too much batter and the cake will overflow the pan and make a mess. In this case, only use enough of the batter to come within 1/2 inch of the top of the pan. Baking time for both methods is still the suggested 45-50 min. If these warnings/suggestions were included in the original directions, this would be a 5-star recipe.
Stanley Nash
Excellent! Perfect desert for Christmas Day or anytime. I will certainly make it again and pass the recipe on to friends .
Dylan Huang
I made it sugar free substituted plain Greek yogurt for butter in cake and used sugar substitute also truvia brown sugar blend. Now I can have my cake and eat it too for less calories and all the taste.
Jessica Perkins
I followed the recipe without changes. I did put foil in the bottom and a bit up the sides and still it leaked all over my oven. It seems to me that a regular cake pan or cast iron skillet would have worked better. It is yummy though and I will make it again in a different pan.
Mark Paul
Loved it, I followed recipe pretty much, did use more like a heaping cup of packed brown sugar on the melted butter, and I live in a county known for growing pears, so no canned for me, instead I used 3 fresh D’Anjou Pears, peeled,and over lapped on bottom of pan. Smelled so good while it was baking, Delish, loved the fresh pears they Baked up perfectly, would like to see it just a bit moister, but could of been my new oven and it over Baked little bit. Definitely going in my favorites. I served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream would be great too..
Cassandra Barker
The butter and brown sugar leaked out of my pan and made a mess in the oven so it was cleaning day for me! But the cake was a hit. I had to add extra time for the thick batter to cook. Not too hard to make and I have the ingredients to do another one with my fresh pears.
Angel Banks
Fantastic recipe. Only change was swapping out one cup of all purpose flour for one cup whole wheat flour. I’m still grieving the loss of a loved one and cooking has become a coping mechanism for me; therefore, it was very important, this night, that I be pleased with the recipe…and I was.
Mary Carlson
Splendid cake texture. I added a teaspoon of cayenne for an extra punch. The one things that didn’t go well was the butter layer at the bottom. Some of the parts didn’t come off with the cake but it was easy to stick back on.
Andres Simmons
fabulous. i used sliced fresh pears instead of the canned and they worked fin. next time i will make it a bit ‘spicier’ by upping the seasonings just a bit. very nice moist cake, i recommend serving it with whipped cream. also, before you turn the cake over, i would suggest that you take the sides of the spring form pan off, and use a long serrated knife to even the cake out. if you simply invert it, the cake will crack where the ‘dome’ won’t let it sit flat.
Scott Johnson
Delish! Followed the recipe except used 1 c almond meal + 1.5 c flour instead of all flour. Cake was moist and got rave reviews! I’m wondering if those who had a dry cake baked for too long? I lined my springform with parchment paper and put a cookie sheet on the rack below the cake pan which caught a little butter drippage but nothing major. Great spice flavor-blend!!
Bruce Elliott PhD
I loved the flavor but had to make it 3 times before perfecting it. It needs to cook a lot longer than 50 minutes or comes out really gooey in the middle. I would suggest another 15-20 minutes. Great with whipped cream on the side.
Debra Stewart
I doubled the spices, doubled the pears, and didn’t let it cool completely before turning out the 2nd time I made it. I like the gooyey stuff sinking down into the cake – although 1st time I made it, when I did let it cool, it was still very moist. Just lacked the flavor and dense texture I wanted. I also put sliced ginger pieces over the butter/sugar before the pears. I LOVE ginger.
Jodi Colon
Made it exactly as directed. Came out perfect and cake was moist. I used a springform pan and found out I should have covered bottom of pan to prevent leaks. That was my fault, the recipe is great.
Aaron Perez
I have never reviewed on this site, but I felt compelled to after trying this recipe. The flavor is wonderful! My cake came out moist, not dry at all. This was also very easy with very little clean up. I did use a regular round cake pan (the caramel will probably leak with a springfoam), and I lined the bottom with parchment paper so that the glaze didn’t stick. I couldn’t appreciate the pear flavor as much as I would have liked, so next time I will use fresh instead of canned. This will be a staple cake for the holidays! Thanks for posting.
Tara Tanner
Unlike the first 2 reviews our family loved this recipe. My husband said it was the best he has ever had. The only thing I changed up is I didn’t use the cloves as we r not fans and instead used allspice and 2 tablespoons of purée ginger. Served with whip cream and was fantastic. Great recipe. Thanks

 

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