Pear & Ginger ‘Upside Down Under’ Cake

This Pear & Ginger Upside Down Cake recipe is part of my ‘winter white’ photo series, I’m branching out from my, what I call ‘medieval styling’ with its moody tones. Although my preference is for the darker photos with their depth and shadows I think I need to expand my repertoire and try new lighting and styling. I have never been very good producing the bleached white photo effect that is so popular, I have no idea why I find it much harder, probably because I still have a lot more to learn which is why I am starting a new photography course tomorrow. I hope over the next month you will be able to notice improvements in my photography but at this stage I am wanting to jump straight back into that medieval look!

Winter would not be the same without heart warming, spicy puddings that stick to your ribs. Take advantage of all the seasonal pears and make a ginger upside down cake. You don’t need to peel the pears, why throw away the fibre that is important in our diets. It may not win you Masterchef leaving the skin on but once baked in the cake the skins go soft, you don’t even notice you have left them on.
Serves 8-10

Ingredients
4 small to medium pears
50g unsalted butter
80g dark muscovado sugar
100g black treacle or molasses
100g runny honey
2 free range eggs, lightly beaten
150g self-raising flour
2 tsp ground ginger

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/ gas mark 4.
Grease and dust with flour a round cake tin 22cm in diameter.
Sprinkle the tablespoon of moscovado sugar on the base of the tin.
Slice and core the pears.
Arrange pears around the tin, stalk end of pear to the centre.
Melt together the butter, 80g sugar, treacle and syrup either in a pan or microwave, then allow to cool.
Add the eggs to the sugar and whisk with electrical whisk.
Sift together the flour and ginger then add to the mixture and stir until smooth.
Pour into the greased tin to cover the pears and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.
Serve as is or with custard, ice cream or cream.

And here’s a pic from our local beach; winter surfing.