Pear Upside Down Gingerbread Cake

It is funny how even though certain ingredients are available year round, we really only consider certain times of the year as appropriate to eat them. For example, you just don’t see many turkeys baked just because. Not too many make pumpkin pies in April. We seem to have an idea of when certain ingredients are “just right” and really, crave them.

Just a few nights ago, I was being attacked by the gingerbread craving. I love ginger in soups, stirfrys, even in desserts. But true gingerbread is something that only seems appropriate in November, December and January. Gingerbread…not just bread flavored with ginger. But the dark, rich, delicious taste of baked gingerbread. I recently got a few new cookbooks and I flipped open to a page with a gingerbread recipe. I didn’t mean to. I mean I really wasn’t looking for gingerbread. But after two days of craving it…I gave in! And oh, am I glad I did!

Pear Upside Down Gingerbread

2 ripe pears
1/4 cup of salted butter, melted
1/2 cup of packed light brown sugar
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of molasses
1 cup of boiling water
1/2 cup of salted butter, softened
1/2 cup of packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Peel and core pears and cut each into thin slices. Arrange pears in the bottom of an 8 inch springform pan. Drizzle with melted butter and sprinkle with brown sugar.

2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together molasses and boiling water in a small bowl. Beat together butter, brown sugar, and egg in a mixer at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes, then alternately mix in one third of the flour mixture and half of the molasses mixture at low speed until smooth, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Pour batter over topping, being careful not to disturb pears, and bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes.

3. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 5 minutes. Run a thin knife around the edge, then remove sides and invert a large plate with a lip over the bottom of the cake and, using pot holders to hold the pan and plate tightly together, invert cake onto plate. Replace any pears that stick to skillet. Serve warm or at room temperature.