Chocolate and pear upside-down cake
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
Chocolate and pear upside-down cake
Juicy slices of pear sit on top of a rich, moist chocolate cake recipe. Serve with a dollop of gently spiced cinnamon cream for some extra festive flair
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
Spencer Lengsfield
Spencer Lengsfield
Ingredients
- 60g unsalted butter, melted
- 100g light brown soft sugar
- 2 tsp cornflour
- 2 large ripe yet firm pears, peeled and cored
- 100ml vegetable oil
- 125g caster sugar
- 2 medium eggs
- 120g plain flour
- 5 tbsp dark cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp instant coffee powder
- ¼ tsp fine salt
For the whipped cream
- 300ml double cream
- 3 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Step by step
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Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Line the base of a 20cm round cake tin with a circle of baking paper. Pour in the melted butter and swirl to ensure the tin is well coated. In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, cornflour and a pinch of fine salt, then sprinkle it over the base of the greased tin. Slice the pears into slim (just under 1cm) slices and arrange on the base of the tin, over the butter-sugar mix. Set aside.
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Whisk together the oil and sugar, then add the eggs and beat to combine. Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking powder, coffee and salt, and fold through. It will be quite a thick mixture. Carefully dollop over the pears, smooth out the top then transfer to the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with just a couple of moist crumbs. Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before carefully turning out onto a serving platter.
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While the cake cools, add the cream, icing sugar, vanilla and cinnamon to a large bowl. Whip to soft peaks, ensuring not to overwhip. Serve slices of cake with a dollop of spiced cream.
