Pear Upside Down Cake

I’ve been whining about Bon Appetit for months (years)… I get that I’m not the demographic and I get that they’re chasing after Saveur magazine with their unflattering photos, but it doesn’t make it any easier when I’m looking through the mag… There’s a lot about the magazine I just don’t care for – their lack of page numbers and ugly pictures to name but two – but the (not flattering) cover photo of a Spiced Pear Upside Down Cake on the October issue did catch my attention – mainly because I wanted to know why they put a picture of a burnt-looking cake on their cover.  I had picked up a bag of different pears the other day and needed a way to make them fattening.

You will note, if you click on the link above, what I mean about a not-flattering photo – the cake really does look burnt. But with a couple of minor tweaks, it came out stellar!

I switched out the walnuts for pistachios, to begin with. I was going to use walnuts, but I put them in the oven to toast and toasted them just a tad too long. Oh, well. And you really do need the pomegranate molasses! It adds a really great sweet/tart flavor to the cake. I didn’t drizzle more on the cake for serving tonight, but probably will tomorrow. I had a couple of jars in the cabinet, but if you can’t find it at your local store, it’s pretty easy to make. Here’s my recipe. I went through a phase where I was using it all the time in a lot of different recipes. I’ve slowed down a bit, but still keep it on hand.

So… Bon Appetit finally came through with a decent recipe! It really is a great cake with a great texture and really really good flavor. A coupe of caveats… You definitely need a 10″ pan for this and you definitely want to put it on a baking sheet in the oven – it did spill over just a tad. But it’s worth the time.

Give it a try!