Pear Upside-Down Chocolate Cake

Yay! Mom took care of cooking supper today since it was her day off, so I got to play with baking! Since I ground the almonds a few days ago, I've been wanting this cake, so I went for it. I found the original recipe in the Food Network Kitchens Cookbook and tried it last year. It didn't turn out quite to spec due to my impatience and I've been itching to take another crack at it for awhile.

Pear Upside-Down Chocolate Cake


makes 6-8 generous servings

Pears:
 2 Tbsp butter
 2 Tbsp firmly packed brown sugar
 1/4 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice
4 Bosc pears, peeled, cored and quartered

Cake:
 1/2 cup milk
 1 cup flour
 1 cup ground almonds, toasted
 1/2 tsp baking soda
 1/2 tsp baking powder
 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
 1 tsp  fine salt
 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
 3/4 cup sugar
 1/2 cup cocoa
 1 tsp vanilla extract
 2 large eggs

Lightly butter a 9" round cake pan, line bottom with parchment and then butter the parchment. (Makes it waaay easier to get the cake out if you do it!)
Combine butter, sugar, and lemon in a saucepan and melt together over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Add the pears, cover and simmer, turning once, until pears are soft and juicy, about 4 minutes.
Strain pears into another saucepan.
Set 1 pear quarter and the syrup aside.
Arrange pear slices in the cake pan, tips facing inward and cored side up.
Chop reserved quarter and pile in the center of the pan.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cream butter and sugar together.
Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
Sift in the cocoa powder and stir to combine carefully (to avoid cocoa everywhere, lol).
Add the ground almonds and stir.
Add the milk and mix in well.
Sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and stir to just combine, trying not to overbeat.
Spoon batter over the pears and then tap on counter to settle it.
Bake for about 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan for about 20 mins and then flip out.
Cool another 30 mins then remove parchment and cool completely.
Reduce reserved syrup until it coats the back of a spoon and then brush over the cake.

Technically you're supposed to sprinkle the top with an even cocoa powder-icing sugar mix, but I don't think it needs it.

And if you're pressed for time, like I kinda was today, or you don't want to peel pears, a 19oz can of pear quarters works and they keep their shape. To make up for not poaching them, since canned pears are already soft, I added a couple tablespoons of the syrup from the can to the butter-lemon-sugar mix to make my brushing topping.

A chocolately, nutty take on an upside-down cake and an awesome combination.

Enjoy!