It's hard not to make that joke when you are cooking with pears, I don't want to cater to the lowest common denominator, but let's face it, boob jokes are funny and allusions to them are side splitting.
On with the pears. I love cakes with fruit in them. I say this a lot, because it is true a lot of the time. I am not mad on things like prunes in cake (clammy and weirdly "elderly" tasting - I expect to like them more when over 70), but most fresh fruit gets a thumbs up. I also really like upside down cakes, because there is a sort of theatrical style reveal at the end. Not only will there be cake, but there is also an element of excitement as to how it will look, how it will set and whether it will come out of the tin. Granted the last one is edging towards the terror end of the excitement scale. But it's still on the scale.
Gabe has show no interest in the three pears sitting on the side board until the split second that I started to peel them for this recipe.
Gabe: Can I have a pear?
Me: I need them love.
Gabe: Can I please have a pear?
Me: Can you wait until I see what I have left over?
Gabe: Can I have this bit?
Me: That is a whole pear.
Gabe: Can I have it?
And on and on we went. He got one slice out of me and eventually, when I was done with the pears, a half a pear, which was pretty good booty as far as he was concerned. We are pirate oriented here at the moment. Booty is just one of the words being bandied about. Also "Harrr Harrr" - swarthy pirate laugh and "Me Hearties!" - swarthy pirate chitchat. Gabe tried to get Skywalker to stand jauntily on his shoulder as he stalks around. Skywalker is Daddy's budgerigar - and he is a most intractable creature. Grouchy, bitey and noisy - jaunty, he ain't.
Budgerigars are a wee native parrot that fly in majestic flocks in the outback of Australia - from that distance you can't tell that they are assholes. But they are.
So, I am making a ginger and pear upside down cake, and it's a lovely, humble piece of work, it's your quiet achiever of cakes. It also looks great when you turn it out depending on the kind of design that you have worked in pear. I favour Rothko myself.
The Recipe - (Not sure where this is from, it's a cut out in my recipe book)
2 cups of firmly packed brown sugar
250 g butter, melted and cooled
3 Packam pears- or Bosc. (about 500 grams) peeled, cored and sliced - not too thin, maybe 1cm thickness
1 cup Golden Syrup
2 eggs
1 Tsp bicarb of soda
2 1/2 cups of plain flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp Mixed Spice
200 g light sour cream.
Preheat the oven to 140 - nice and low. This is a slow burn proposition- like that librarian you have your eye on.
Line a 23 cm cake tin of some description. They want a square one here and I don't have one of that size so I went for round and silicon. There is clearly some conspiracy afoot by the various cake tin companies to make us buy as many cake tins as possible. Well, they can't make me. I'll make a square cake in a round tin in heartbeat.
Spread half a cup of the brown sugar on the base of the tin and then swoosh 1/3 cup of butter over that. Then arrange the piece of pear over that sugary mess. As I mentioned this is the opportunity to go on a creative journey - or write a cute message or hide a file. Whichever.
Place the remaining butter in a bowl and whisk in all the remaining ingredients leaving the sour cream to last. Stir the sour cream in. Not sure why, but it will have something to do with air and lightness and other scientific things.
Whilst I was doing this my camera was doing this:
That is a cubby. That's what Gabe was doing whilst I was baking. Obviously he thought the cubby was so awesome that he took my phone from next to me, snapped a photo to preserve the moment and then put the phone back without me knowing. On the top there is a pillow from my bed.
After you have had a look at the cubby and admired it and said "Is that my pillow?", put the cake in the oven and leave it for about 1 hour and 20 mins. Check it from time to time. I looked at mine at the 1 hour mark and it was still very wobbly. I jabbed at it 20 mins later and it was perfect.
Let it stand and be gorgeous for about 10 minutes because it is literally TO HOT TO HANDLE! Then gently turn it out. To whit:
It is delicious when warm, so eat it immediately.
On with the pears. I love cakes with fruit in them. I say this a lot, because it is true a lot of the time. I am not mad on things like prunes in cake (clammy and weirdly "elderly" tasting - I expect to like them more when over 70), but most fresh fruit gets a thumbs up. I also really like upside down cakes, because there is a sort of theatrical style reveal at the end. Not only will there be cake, but there is also an element of excitement as to how it will look, how it will set and whether it will come out of the tin. Granted the last one is edging towards the terror end of the excitement scale. But it's still on the scale.
Gabe has show no interest in the three pears sitting on the side board until the split second that I started to peel them for this recipe.
Gabe: Can I have a pear?
Me: I need them love.
Gabe: Can I please have a pear?
Me: Can you wait until I see what I have left over?
Gabe: Can I have this bit?
Me: That is a whole pear.
Gabe: Can I have it?
And on and on we went. He got one slice out of me and eventually, when I was done with the pears, a half a pear, which was pretty good booty as far as he was concerned. We are pirate oriented here at the moment. Booty is just one of the words being bandied about. Also "Harrr Harrr" - swarthy pirate laugh and "Me Hearties!" - swarthy pirate chitchat. Gabe tried to get Skywalker to stand jauntily on his shoulder as he stalks around. Skywalker is Daddy's budgerigar - and he is a most intractable creature. Grouchy, bitey and noisy - jaunty, he ain't.
 |
| "I WILL NOT look at you. I can't bear the sight of you. How dare you ask me to say "Pieces if eight", like I was some performing MONKEY" |
So, I am making a ginger and pear upside down cake, and it's a lovely, humble piece of work, it's your quiet achiever of cakes. It also looks great when you turn it out depending on the kind of design that you have worked in pear. I favour Rothko myself.
The Recipe - (Not sure where this is from, it's a cut out in my recipe book)
2 cups of firmly packed brown sugar
250 g butter, melted and cooled
3 Packam pears- or Bosc. (about 500 grams) peeled, cored and sliced - not too thin, maybe 1cm thickness
1 cup Golden Syrup
2 eggs
1 Tsp bicarb of soda
2 1/2 cups of plain flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp Mixed Spice
200 g light sour cream.
Preheat the oven to 140 - nice and low. This is a slow burn proposition- like that librarian you have your eye on.
Line a 23 cm cake tin of some description. They want a square one here and I don't have one of that size so I went for round and silicon. There is clearly some conspiracy afoot by the various cake tin companies to make us buy as many cake tins as possible. Well, they can't make me. I'll make a square cake in a round tin in heartbeat.
Spread half a cup of the brown sugar on the base of the tin and then swoosh 1/3 cup of butter over that. Then arrange the piece of pear over that sugary mess. As I mentioned this is the opportunity to go on a creative journey - or write a cute message or hide a file. Whichever.
 |
| Nestled. Cuddled up together, if you will. |
 |
| Light and creamy looking - yummy too. |
 |
| Not a cake. |
After you have had a look at the cubby and admired it and said "Is that my pillow?", put the cake in the oven and leave it for about 1 hour and 20 mins. Check it from time to time. I looked at mine at the 1 hour mark and it was still very wobbly. I jabbed at it 20 mins later and it was perfect.
 |
| That colour, those eyes! |
 |
| You're a vision Madam! |
It is delicious when warm, so eat it immediately.
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