I love a good upside-down cake. It’s cake and it’s upside down. What’s not to love? So, when I spotted this Jamie Oliver recipe for ‘Winter Ginger, Pear & Almond Upside-down Cake’ I was immediately sold.
Pears are in season from September to January and so I managed to get my hands on some lovely bronzed Conference Pears at my local supermarket. My inner geek decided to Google how the Conference Pear got its name and I was certainly not disappointed with the answer! Apparently this variety was developed in Britain by Thomas Rivers. It was named having won first prize at the National British Pear Conference in London in 1885. I can barely contain myself at the thought of a ‘Pear Conference’, and to be cooking with the winning pear variety, 131 years after it was crowned, blows my mind. I feel like making some little silver foil medals for these victorious pears nestling inconspicuously amongst the other fruits in my fruit bowl.
With my newfound respect for these dull-bronzed fruits, I set to work weighing out these ingredients:
For the Cake Batter:
200g Butter
200g Caster Sugar
4 Large free-range eggs
220g Ground almonds
For the Caramelised Ginger Pears:
40g Fresh ginger
1 Vanilla Pod
550g Caster Sugar
4 Pears (peeled, cored and cut into quarters)
20g Butter
I began by poaching the pears: ‘For the pears, peel and finely grate the ginger. Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds, then place it all into a pan. Add 400g of the sugar and 700ml of water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for a few minutes for the flavours to develop. Using a spoon, carefully lower the pears into the hot liquid and simmer for 10 minutes, until tender. Remove the pears from the liquid and set aside to cool’
By this point, the kitchen smelt utterly delicious….sweet, spicy and (dare I say it?) almost Christmassy.
Next up was preparing the cake tin: ‘Line the base of a 25cm springform cake tin with greaseproof paper.’
Jamie Oliver then suggested that I make a caramel with 150g sugar and 100ml water, but I couldn’t understand why you would waste the fragrant poaching liquor that had just been used to cook the pears. The poaching liquor smelt so good that I wanted to put a straw in it and slurp away, so why would I not use it in place of the water for the caramel? My husband, concerned that I might be about to sabotage our afternoon tea and cake plans, heckled me from the living room…apparently it’s bad karma to ignore Jamie Oliver. Acknowledging the risk (and promising to go to Waitrose for a Bakewell tart if this went horribly wrong) ignore him I did.
Into a pan went 150g sugar and 100ml of the poaching liquor (you hear that Jamie? Not water but the poaching liquor that you tried to make me pour away). ‘Simmer for about 15 minutes until it turns dark golden brown. Stir in the butter until you get a caramel, then pour it into the cake tin.’
‘Cut the cooled pears into slices and carefully arrange them in the warm caramel’. I feel I should add a warning here…..You need to work VERY quickly at this point as the caramel hardens rapidly. But maybe this wouldn’t have happened if I had I hadn’t strayed from the recipe. Karma.
‘Preheat the oven to 180°C. For the cake, beat the butter and sugar with a whisk until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add the almonds and mix to combine. Pour the cake mixture over the pears and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin, then remove and carefully flip upside down to serve’.
Here’s the finished cake. Oh, and I did not have to go to Waitrose for a replacement. It was completely delicious and, because it uses almonds instead of flour, it’s gluten free. Pukka!
Written by Emma Shipley, Thornback & Peel Studio and Production Manager