Molasses Ginger Pear Upside-Down Cake
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
This beautiful, tender cake is loaded with molasses and spices, and topped with tender pears. It's a wonderful way to celebrate the bounty of Autumn, and makes for a beautiful focal point on your holiday dessert table. Not into pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving? This would be a perfect alternative.
Author:
Recipe type: Baking, Pastry, Cake, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Yield: One 9- or 10-inch cake
Ingredients
  • For Caramel and Pears:
  • 13 g (scant Tbsp) coconut oil or 14 grams (1 Tbsp) unsalted butter
  • 60ml/78 g maple syrup or 60 ml/85 g honey (about ¼ cup)
  • 39 g (about ¼ cup) coconut palm sugar
  • Pinch of fine kosher or sea salt
  • ¼ tsp pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste
  • 3 medium (about 6-7 oz each) firm Bosc pears, peeled, cored, and cut into ⅛ inch thick slices
  • For Cake:
  • 168 g (1 ⅓ cups) superfine brown rice flour
  • 58 g (½ cup + 2 Tbsp) potato starch
  • 50 g (½) cup mesquite flour
  • 18 g (2 Tbsp + 1 tsp) tapioca starch
  • ⅜ tsp xanthan gum
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground allspice
  • ½ tsp Kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 176 ml (¾ cup) water
  • 1 ½ tsp baking soda
  • 158 ml/225 g (⅔ cup) mild or dark unsulphured molasses (NOT blackstrap)
  • 78 g (½ cup) coconut palm sugar or dark brown sugar
  • 30 ml (2 Tbsp) fresh or bottled ginger juice*
  • 30 g (a fat 2-inch piece) fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
  • 120 ml (½ cup) milk or dairy-free alternative of choice
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
Procedure
  1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
  2. Prepare the sauce: Melt oil or butter in a large 9- or 10-inch cast iron skillet** over medium heat. Add maple syrup (or honey) and coconut sugar and cook, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves completely. Bring to a boil and continue to cook for another 1 ½ to 2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in salt and vanilla, and let cool slightly.
  3. Arrange pear slices in an overlapping circle around the pan, then fill in the center, cutting some smaller pieces if necessary to fit. Set aside.
  4. Prepare the batter: In a medium bowl whisk together flours, starches, xanthan gum, cinnamon, allspice, pepper, salt and cloves, and set aside.
  5. Bring water to a boil in a medium-large saucepan, stir in baking soda, then stir in molasses, coconut sugar and ginger juice, whisking until smooth. Remove from heat and add grated ginger. Whisk in milk, then eggs. Gradually sift or shake dry ingredients into the pan, whisking vigorously to combine thoroughly until no visible dry bits or streaks of flour remain.
  6. Bake the cake: Carefully pour the batter over the pears in the skillet, smoothing gently to the edges of a pan with a silicone spatula if necessary.
  7. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cake cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.
  8. Flip and Serve: The sides of the cake should pull away from the pan during baking, but if they need a nudge gently run a small offset spatula or flat knife around the edge of the skillet to loosen. Cover the skillet with a large serving plate and hold it firmly in place as you CAREFULLY flip the skillet over to release the cake onto the plate. ***The cast iron skillet will still be extremely hot. Please protect your hands with potholders, oven mitts or kitchen towels, and beware of dripping molten caramel!
Notes
*To extract juice from ginger, grate peeled fresh ginger root into a mound in the center of a piece of cheesecloth. Bring ends of cloth together, hold the bundle over a bowl to catch the juice, and twist/wring it to squeeze out as much juice as possible. Voila! Fresh ginger juice. If you’d rather buy pre-squeezed juice I suggest Ginger People Organic Ginger Juice. Just make sure to use the pure juice and not one of their blends or mixers - it comes in a narrow 5-ounce bottle.

**If you don't have a cast iron skillet you can still bake this cake. Make the caramel in a small skillet or saucepan and set aside. Generously grease a cake or spring-form pan with whichever fat you used in the caramel, line the bottom with a round of parchment paper, and grease that as well. Pour the sauce into the prepared pan and proceed as directed with the remainder of the recipe (though if you use a spring-form you'll want to remove the sides of the pan before flipping the cake).
Recipe by Good Health Gourmet at https://goodhealthgourmet.com/molasses-ginger-pear-upside-down-cake/