Cranberry & pear upside down cake

Isn't it wonderful when winter slooooooowly starts to recede and bit by bit, you can see the selection of fruit (and vegetables!) improving?  Where before there were only forlorn and ridiculously out of season mangoes and strawberries, suddenly the wonderful deciduous fruits are reappearing - and English cherries and strawberries can't be far behind! 

As a professed non-sweet-tooth, I put my recent flurry of sweet stuff (peach clafoutis, cherry muffins) down to being overexcited at the sight of all this fruit,  And when the raw materials are so beautiful, how on earth are you meant to resist popping it in your basket and making something special with it?

I have written about synchronicity before - the unlikely convergence of seemingly unrelated events - and this cake is another example.  Let's see...

1.  Invite friends to lunch and start pondering what to make for dessert.  (As an aside, the day before the friends came to lunch, a colleague asked what I was making.  I rattled off the details of all three courses and she was amazed.  "So you already know EVERYTHING you are going to make?".  Realised that the idea of being 24 hours away from having 6 friends over for a meal and NOT knowing what I am making is enough to make me break out in hives.  You know you're a food blogger when...!)

2.  Find these glorious Rosemarie pears and buy a few without really knowing what you want to do with them.

3.  Chat to a friend who says I must check out this restaurant she went to, called Ottolenghi.

4.  Have a look on the web for said restaurant, browse the site and come across a cake recipe featuring... pears!

5.  Make the cake as a dessert for abovementioned friends and it is declared a roaring success.  One of friends leaves behind a Guardian Weekend magazine.

5.  After the guests leave, Nick flicks through the magazine and says I should look at it as there are some yummy recipes.  I take a look and who are the recipes by?  None other than Yotam Ottolenghi, who has just released his first cookbook.

Synchronicity at work!

Of course, this did mean using an untested recipe from a source that I had never used before... But I'm not known for my caution of foresight in the kitchen so I plunged in despite the fact that the cake was being baked on the morning of the lunch.  And there was no Plan B if it flopped.  The best advice I can give anyone embarking on this mission is to keep your wits about you and never assume that the recipe is correct just because it is in black & white! 

Although the recipe talks about "pouring" the batter into the cake tin, once my batter was mixed, there was NO WAY it was of a pouring consistency, and I was a little short on ground almonds so my batter would have been wetter than most.  Read the recipe again but no - no mention of liquid, apart from the tsp of vanilla essence! So I took an executive decision to add some milk to get it to proper batter consistency.  I didn't measure the milk, so please exercise discretion with my guesstimate of 150ml.  Add half and see if you get something pourable.  If not, add more.  The original recipe also did not call for cloves, but I added some to mine and was very happy with the result. 

The biggest crisis of confidence came with the baking time.  The recipe said 35 mins at 170C.  But after 35 minutes, the centre of the cake resembled the texture of cooling magma:  crisp on top but oooh, see how it jiggles below the surface! Bearing in mind that I was going to have to flip this baby upside down at some point to serve, I took another executive decision along the lines of "that damn thing is staying in the damn oven till it's firm - I don't care how long it takes!".  Eventually after 75 minutes, a skewer in the middle came out clean. 

And if, like me, you use a springform cake tin, unless you particularly like scraping burnt caramel off the inside of your oven, put the tin in the oven on a baking sheet lined with aluminium foil - the caramel WILL escape the tin, and at least that way you can discard the foil and laugh off the oven-cleaning.

Enough technicalities - how did it turn out?  Absolutely fabulously!  It was spicy and gooey and the tart cranberries were the perfect foil for the sweet pears.  One of our guests who never really cares for dessert practically licked his plate clean, and as far as I'm concerned that's the best testimonial you can get.

CRANBERRY & PEAR UPSIDE DOWN CAKE (serves 8)

Ingredients

For the poached pears:

3 ripe but firm pears
750ml water
150g sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
4 whole cloves
2 strips of zest and the juice of 1 lemon

For the caramel topping:

90g sugar
20g butter
40g dry cranberries or 50g fresh

For the cake batter:

200g butter
200g sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
150ml milk
200g ground almonds
¼ tsp salt
80g plain flour
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves

Method

Peel the pears and then in half lengthways. Immediately place the fruit in a saucepan  containing the water, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, lemon zest and juice. You can Place a disc of greaseproof directly on the liquid so the pears remain submerged, but I just turned them to float cut side down and they were fine.

Bring the liquid to the boil and then simmer until the pears are just slightly undercooked - this should take anywhere between 8 and 15 minutes. Check with a sharp knife that they are tender outside but firm in the centre. Leave them aside to cool down in the cooking liquid.  The poaching of the pears can be done the day before and the pears kept in the fridge overnight in their cooking liquid, which is what I did.

Heat up the oven to 170°C. Lightly grease a 20cm round cake tin and line its bottom and sides with greaseproof paper.

Place the sugar for the caramel in a clean heavy-based saucepan together with just enough water to moisten all the sugar.  Place on a low heat. Without stirring, watch the sugar turn into a rich caramel colour. Make sure to keep your eyes on the sugar at all times as it can easily burn.

As soon as you reach the desired colour, remove the pan from the heat quickly but carefully. With your face at a safe distance, add the butter in a few chunks. Stir quickly with a wooden spoon until the butter has melted and pour onto the base of the cake tin. Carefully tilt the tin to spread the caramel evenly.

Drain the pears.  If using dried cranberries, soak them in some of the pear cooking juices. Drain after 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut each pear half into into 3 wedges lengthways. Remove the stem and core with a knife.  Arrange the pears and the cranberries over the caramel.

To make the cake, sieve together the flour and the spices. Use the paddle attachment of the mixer to cream the butter and sugar until light and airy. Gradually add the eggs and vanilla and milk. Add the ground almonds and citrus zest and mix just to combined. Repeat with sifted flour but stop when all ingredients are moist - don’t over-mix.

Once the batter is smooth, pour it carefully over the pears and cranberries making sure you don’t move them too much out of their place. Smooth the batter with a palette knife.  Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 75 minutes. Test with a skewer to make sure the cake is dry inside and then emove from the oven.

Whilst the cake is still warm, but not hot, place a flat plate upside-down on top of the tin and briskly turn over. Remove the tin and the paper, and serve decorated with cranberries and accompanied by whipped cream with an added splash of brandy.

I am submitting the picture of the bowl of beautiful Rosemarie pears as my entry for April's Click event.  This monthly photo event is hosted by my lovely friends Bee and Jai over at Jugalbandi and the theme for the month is au naturel, or food in its raw state.  The deadline is today, so get your fresh & raw snaps in ASAP, using their nifty entry form!

Comments

[Charlotte]

OK, I'm drooling. And speaking of synchronicity, I have a packet of dried cranberries in the fridge and was idly wondering what I would make for dessert for a braai on Saturday. Now I know! Thanks for posting my inspiration.

[bee]

lovely pears and cake. is that what they are? cranberry pears? i photographed them for the same event and called them 'bartlett pears' 'cos that's what they were labelled in the store. i thought they looked different from bartletts.
http://jugalbandi.info/2008/04/click-bartlett-pears/

i'll change the label of mine.

[bee]

ummm... i need to read the WHOLE POST before commenting. your entry said 'cranberry-pear' in my inbox and i thought that's what they are called. lol.

[Kaykat]

Wow! I'm so in love with this cake. Those spiced pears sound *delicious*!

[Julia]

This looks delicious, and so colourful and moist.

[Kit]

This looks so gorgeous - I'm going to have to try it soon. I've got a feeling that the kids won't like it though - maybe I'll have to eat it up myself - what a shame!

I love the pear photo too - such beautiful colors.

[johanna]

i love ottolenghi... a favourite spot in notting hill, although i don't get to go there as often as i'd like. the cake looks fantastic, but how annoying about the baking time - although i know from experience how much ovens can differ, 40 minutes is a LOT of difference... i wonder what the rest of the book is like?

[johanna]

i love ottolenghi... a favourite spot in notting hill, although i don't get to go there as often as i'd like. the cake looks fantastic, but how annoying about the baking time - although i know from experience how much ovens can differ, 40 minutes is a LOT of difference... i wonder what the rest of the book is like?

[Fearless Kitchen]

This looks great - and this from someone who thinks dessert must involve chocolate or it doesn't count! I can envision serving it at an early fall cookout. I've had the same thing happen with my oven. I thought my oven was just lousy, or it was just another symptom of my lousy baking skills. I feel a little better knowing that I'm not the only one!

[Helen]

I think we may have a certain synchronisation! I too am a non-sweet tooth person. I have also just bought Ottolenghi's first cookbook (eagerly awaiting the delivery!) and have marked his restaurant as my new number one destination. Your creation does look delicious, even to a savoury tooth. I love the shape of those pears in there.

[katie]

I'm not sure which is prettier - the pears or the cake!
Oh, and I forgot: Happy Anniversary!

[aforkfulofspaghetti]

What a lusciously moist-looking cake! Yum....

[herschelian]

I made Ottolenghi's Caramelised Garlic Tart as a starter a few weeks ago (its on my blog) it was divine, so I've splurged on the cookbook. This cake looks fabuloso, I have friends coming next week and this will be on the menu, thanks jeanne. BTW there is an Ottolenghi in Upper Street Islington as well as the Notting Hill branch.

[Jeanne]

Hi Charlotte
If you think you are inspired now, just wait till you taste this baby! And talk about synchronicity... we are also braaing on Saturday!! This time round I'll be trying out a flourless chocolate cake for dessert.

Hi Bee
LOL - I was wodering what you were on about! Have now changed the title of the post, just to avoid all confusion :) Love your pear pic too, clearly great minds DO think alike!

Hi Kaykat
Oh you *must* try it - it's one of the best cakes I've ever eaten. And the poached pears are definitely good enough to eat on their own with a dollop of cream.

Hi Julia
And believe me, it tastes as good as it looks :)

Hi Kit
Oh damn, poor kids. Ah well, moving along ;-) Seriously, this is just so delicious and I really do urge you to try it!

Hi Johanna
I don't think it was an oven issue - I think the recipe was put on the web mistyped and nobody proofread it. I fact I *know* this because the entire paragraph about slicing the pears was repeated, at the start and in the middle of the recipe! I also want to stress that this recipe was from the Ottolenghi website, NOT Yotam's book (which I'm sure was extensively proofread!).

Hi Fearless Kitchen
I can't recommend this cake highly enough for the end to a lovely summery meal - despite the ton of buttery caramel, the fruits keep it from feeling too rich or heavy. Perfect! As for over times, as I said to Johanna above, I don't think this was an oven issue as much as a recipe proofreading issue. My oven is normally pretty well-behaved when it comes to cooking things in the time suggested. That said, cooking times in different ovens do vary tremendously, esepecially when comparing electric to gas to fan-assisted.

Hi Helen
I am making another salad from Ottolenghi this weekend and if that is as much of a success as the cake, I'm going straight out and buying the book! And yes, the restaurant is definitely on my "to visit" list!

Hi Katie
I admit, it's a tough call... and thanks for the anniversary wishes!

Hi ForkfulOfSpaghetti
And in this case, appearances aren't deceptive - it is indeed luscious, moist and caramelly!

Hi Herschelian
So Ottolenghi recipes are just popping up all over this month! I am going to head over to your blog right now and check out the caramelised garlic tart which sounds DIVINE. Coincidentally, I'm making an Ottolenghi chargrilled vegetable & haloumi salad this weekend and if that is a success, the book is so going in my basket :)

[Niamh]

This looks gorgeous. Beautiful photos - I can almost taste it! I'll be trying this.

[Niamh]

Btw - Ottolenghi is just gorgeous, one of my faves, and I look forward to his Saturday recipes in the Guardian. I am off out to buy the book today.

[Charlotte]

Raging success! Thanks, Jeanne, for a stunner of a recipe. My reputation in the Burg as a baker is now guaranteed for life following the pear and cranberry upside down cake.

[Niall Harbison]

Hi there

Have just found your blog and it is yest another example of all the great food blogs that are out there! I just don't have time to read all the blogs I have saved at this stage! I started off blogging myself and have just set up www.ifoods.tv which is a place for foodies, bloggers and chefs to hand out and share their recipes, photos and food videos. Would love to see you there sharing some of your great photos! Keep up the great work on the blog, have bookmarked it so will be a regular reader!

[Coffee and Vanilla]

Jeanne, that is another thing I have never tried... upside down cake... I was always wondering why to make upside down cake... I still don't get it but I must try! :)

Thank you for your comments, I replied here:
http://www.coffeeandvanilla.com/?p=2141#comment-3739

I'm a little busy right now with my step mother visiting for a month but maybe we could actually meet one day! :)

[Susan from Food Blogga]

I made a pear and cranberry chutney around Thanksgiving time and loved it. This cake, however, is so much more tempting! I'll have to try it for sure.

[shabs]

That looks amazing!!!moist and yummy...bookmarking this recipe...

[Kit]

It's four years later and I am finally going to give this a try - I was musing on a pear and ginger pudding for Easter, knew I'd seen something to the point on your blog and came here to find my ancient comment about trying this...so now I will! Happy Easter!