You may want to prepare the pears the day before.
Upside-down pear cake
Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for upside-down pear cake by chef Phillip Searle matched with a late-harvest muscat wine.
- 20 mins preparation
- 6 hrs cooking
- Serves 8
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Ingredients
Cake
- 150 gm caster sugar
- 80 gm unblanched almonds (½ cup)
- 60 gm hazelnuts, roasted and peeled
- 60 gm dessicated coconut
- 160 gm plain flour
- 300 gm butter
- 300 gm granulated sugar
- 3 eggs, at room temperature, lightly whisked
- 2 oranges (finely grated rind of)
- To serve: sour cream or crème Anglaise
Roast pears
- 6 large under-ripe pears
- 180 gm granulated sugar
- 2 lemons (juice of)
- 50 ml white wine
Method
Main
- 1For roast pears, preheat oven to 150C. Peel pears and halve lengthways. Place cut-side down in a baking dish, sprinkle over sugar and drizzle with lemon juice and wine. Cover with foil and bake for up to 4 hours or until tender. Cool. Using a melon baller, remove cores and stem. Strain liquid through a sieve and reserve. Pears may be cooked the day before and refrigerated.
- 2Place caster sugar in a small saucepan, add enough water to dampen and cook over high heat for 10 minutes or until caramel in colour. Pour caramel into a 20cm-round cake pan with high sides and swirl to coat base and sides.
- 3Process nuts and coconut in a food processor until coarsely chopped, then add half the flour and process to a medium meal. Combine with remaining flour. Using an electric beater, cream butter, sugar and orange rind until fluffy and approximately 3 times its original volume, then add eggs, a little at a time, beating to incorporate each addition before adding next. Using the open palm of your hand, fold nut mixture through creamed mixture until combined.
- 4Increase oven to 160C. Arrange pears, round-side down, snugly into cake pan, spoon over cake mixture, place in a baking dish and cover base with 5mm of water. Bake for 2 hours or until firm and golden. Allow cake to cool in pan. Warm base of pan over stove to melt caramel, then invert onto a plate. Serve drizzled with reserved pear liquid and sour cream or crème Anglaise.
Notes
Drink Suggestion: Late-harvest muscat. Drink suggestion by Max Allen