Fall

Chocolate Pear Upsidedown Cake

by:
October 28, 2013
4
1 Ratings
Chocolate Pear Upsidedown Cake
  • Makes 10 inch round cake
Author Notes

A play on the traditional pineapple upsidedown cake, this recipe is one of my new all time favorites. Chocolate and pear just work together oh so well. I think it will make an appearance for the holidays around my house.
This recipe is very loosely based on a cake of the same name from Rustic Fruit Desserts. (A really great cookbook!) —Chelle

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Topping
  • 4 tablespoons salted butter
  • 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 ripe pears, pealed, cored, chopped into 12 slices per pear
  • Cake Batter
  • 8 tablespoons salted butter
  • 1 1/4 cups white sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened coco powder
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 4 ounces semi sweet mini chocolate chips
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350*. Prepare a 10" spring form pan by greasing well with butter.
  2. 2. In a small saucepan melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Add 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla, melting sugar into butter. Stir well so the mixture does not burn. Once sugar is dissolved, pour mixture into prepared pan. Mixture will be thick and you may need a rubber spatula to spread evenly.
  3. Place the pear slices on top of the mixture in a circular pattern. Set aside and allow to cool while you prepare the cake batter.
  4. In the bowl of a stand mixer add 8 tablespoons of butter and 1 1/4 cup of sugar. Cream together.
  5. Add 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Quickly beat into butter/sugar mixture.
  6. Add 1 3/4 cups flour, 2 baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/3 cup coco powder, and 3/4 cup milk. Mix well, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
  7. Add 6 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips and mix quickly.
  8. Pour the cake batter on top of the cooled topping and pear mixture, spread with a rubber spatula to make even.
  9. Bake at 350* for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean. (If you hit a chocolate chip you may get chocolate smears. This does not necessarily mean the cake isn't done.)
  10. Cool until bottom of the pan is comfortable to touch. Gently turn pan over a plate to release cake.
  11. Note: Again to give credit where it is due this recipe is inspired by a recipe of the same name from Rustic Fruit Deserts.
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See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Fiona Krogh
    Fiona Krogh
  • Chelle
    Chelle
  • Anna Zell
    Anna Zell
  • Belinda Lee
    Belinda Lee

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5 Reviews

Fiona K.
Fiona K. August 29, 2020
Just made this and it's delicious. I don't think I made the topping correctly; there were a few chunks of brown crystallized sugar between the pears. maybe I overcooked it or undercooked it or had the layer too thick, I don't know. I picked them off ate the cake - was delicious when still a little warm.
 
Anna Z.
Anna Z. January 13, 2018
Yikes! Cake has been in oven 5 min and caramel is dripping out of bottom of spring form and burning on bottom of oven. How do I prevent this?
 
Chelle
Chelle January 16, 2018
Hi Anna,
This didn't happen to me the first time I made this recipe but did once later on with a springform pan that didn't fit as tightly together. Probably should have updated this recipe to include my workaround. Either line the pan with parchment paper before filling or wrap a layer of foil along the outside of the springform pan to prevent drips. Suppose you could also set the springform on a foil lined baking sheet.

Sorry about the oven mess!
 
Chelle
Chelle February 7, 2016
Hey sorry about the error, it's 3 eggs!
 
Belinda L.
Belinda L. February 7, 2016
In the ingredient list it asks for 3 eggs, but in step 5 it says 4. Which is correct?