Cast Iron

Gingerbread Pear Upside Down Skillet Cake

by:
September 15, 2011
0
0 Ratings
Gingerbread Pear Upside Down Skillet Cake
  • Serves 8
Author Notes

My mother made the best gingerbread in the world using a recipe she got in 1939. I adapted it to this pear upside down cake and it is so good. If you don't have a cast-iron skillet, it can be made in a regular cake pan...it just won't have the wonderful crispy crust. —mleverette

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Topping
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
  • 4 tablespoons molasses
  • 1/2 cake chopped toasted pecans
  • 3 medium pears, peeled, cored and sliced
  • Gingerbread
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup molasses
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup hot water
Directions
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a 12-inch cast iron skillet, melt 4 tablespoons butter to begin the topping mixture. Stir in brown sugar, molasses and pecans. Evenly layer pears over the sugar mixture.
  2. To make gingerbread, cream butter and sugar and add egg. Add molasses. Stir together dry ingredients and slowly add to molasses mixture. Add hot water and mix well. Pour batter on top of apples.
  3. . Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until gingerbread springs back lightly when pressed with a finger. Remove skillet from oven and invert onto a heatproof serving plate. Serve warm or cold. Very good with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
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6 Reviews

thevegedge
thevegedge October 16, 2012
Delicious! I'm in the tropics and don't have any pears or walnuts :-(. So I used pineapple and almonds instead and added some fresh minced ginger to the butter-suger topping, and it came out incredibly well. Lovely recipe.
 
ChefJune
ChefJune September 16, 2011
My! This looks like Christmas Morning Breakfast! Must try before then, of course. ;)
 
marie-poirier
marie-poirier September 15, 2011
this sounds like a great autumn-y, winter-y recipe! love the typical gingerbread spices!
 
Bevi
Bevi September 15, 2011
Yum. This is in the queue. You wrote apples instead of pears in Step 2..
 
Lizthechef
Lizthechef September 15, 2011
I love gingerbread and this recipe of yours is a keeper...
 
aargersi
aargersi September 15, 2011
This looks outstanding! A MUST try!