I was flicking through a magazine that had a beautiful picture of an upside down pineapple cake in it. It looked stunning and I just wanted to grab a fork and dig in. The photo inspired me to make one, but with pears of course to make it suitable for Failsafe! It was a long and fiddly traditional recipe that involved whipping egg whites and many steps that didn’t interest me. I was after something quick, easy and delicious. So I created my own Thermomix recipe from scratch.
I have tried this with both normal plain flour and Gluten Free flour. I used the one from Aldi. Both cakes worked beautifully. For a dairy free version, use nuttelex and rice milk.
I have a dodgy oven at the moment that only has fan forced option, so please keep a check on your cake towards the end of cooking time.
The Topping
80g unsalted butter or nuttelex for dairy free
110g light-brown sugar
3 pears, peeled and cored or tinned
The Cake
160g unsalted butter or nuttelex for dairy free
180g sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
200g plain flour / GF flour (add 1 tsp xanthan gum if using GF flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
130g milk / rice milk
Pre-heat oven to 180deg. Lightly grease a round cake tin approx. 25cm diam.
To make the topping:
Place butter into Thermomix bowl and melt for 2:30 mins 60 deg speed 2. Add brown sugar and cook for another 2 minutes 60 deg speed 2. Pour into cake tin. Allow to cool slightly while preparing the pears.
Slice pears into even sized thick wedges and arrange in a circular pattern over the top the caramel mixture.
The Cake: Without cleaning the Thermomix bowl, place butterfly attachment into bowl. Weigh in butter and sugar. Cream together on speed 4 for 2 minutes. Scrape down sides. Add vanilla, mix on speed 4 for 1 minute with butterfly still in place and add the eggs one at a time through the lid. Remove butterfly.
Add remaining ingredients. Mix on speed 3 for 20 seconds to combine ingredients. Scrape down sides and repeat for another 10 seconds. Pour carefully over the pears evenly without disturbing or moving them. Use the spatula to smooth over the top. Bake for approx. 35-45 minutes or until lightly golden and a cake tester inserted comes outs out clean. Gently run a knife around the edge of pan and turn out onto serving plate.
Serve warm with custard or ice-cream or enjoy at room temperature.
Tips: I put a tray lined with baking paper underneath the cake as the caramel bubbles over a little.
Made this GF and it is amazing!!!!!
Wonderful! So glad you liked it. 🙂
I made this today but it didn’t cook in the middle, I was wondering what I could do differently? I have a fan forced oven (quite new) I put it on 180 deg, at the 35 min mark, I inserted a skewer and it came out clean, but I didn’t put it right to the bottom as I figured it would get wet from the pear and sauce. It was very brown on top and pulling away from the edges like a cake usually does when its cooked. When I flipped it onto the plate I could see a little uncooked cake mix in the centre which worried me so I flipped it back in the pan and baked it a further 10 min. I flipped it onto the plate again, worried now it was so brown almost on the verge of burning, but it was still uncooked in the middle after it cooled and I cut a slice. Is there anything I can do fix it? or suggestions of what to do next time?
Hi, I am sorry to hear that the upside down cake didn’t cook through for you. I am unsure why. Did you use GF flour or normal flour? I have made it a number of times in my oven that is fan forced only and it has cooked perfectly every time. My oven can be quite hot and cooks things quicker on the back right corner so I have to keep turning everything around regularly to achieve even cooking. All I can suggest is to increase your complete cooking time for an extra 10 minutes. And then test it. Every oven is different and it may need a lot more time to cook in your oven.
This happened to mine. I made it Gluten Free. I think you need to use a larger cake tin. I used 20cm, so quite thick. Once I flipped it onto the cake plate I popped it back in the oven for about 10 minutes and it cooked through and still looked great. Tasted delicious.
Made this today as a gluten free version but without eggs due to my allergies. Turned out wonderfully with a slight tapioca pudding texture. Tastes really good.
Great cake, Rona!! Made it gluten free, only needed one (albeit giant) pear and used my widest tin. The cake needed an extra 15mins in my oven. PERFECT for guests and so easy!!