Fluffy, lightly spiced sponge with soft pear and toasted almonds. This upside down cake is so simple to make and is the perfect fruity cake.
To the sponge I added ground almonds with spices of cinnamon and cardamom. They’re subtle but pair so nicely with the soft slices of pear.
It makes for the moistest cake and is straight forward recipe. It’s ready in under an hour and is perfect with a cup of afternoon tea!
Upside down cakes will always remind me of my childhood. At school in cookery class we used to make an upside pineapple cake.
I can still taste it now and I loved the combination of the sweet fruit and fluffy sponge. By the time I took it home there wasn’t much left!
I had completely forgotten about this memory until I was scrolling through Pinterest and saw a photo of an upside down cake.
I knew I had to make one and veganise it! I used pears as they are in season and taste so good at the moment.
But if you want to use a different fruit or use one that is season where you are you can easily switch it up. Pineapple, apple or peach would work really nicely!
As I write this it is New Years Day and to be honest I’m glad to see the back of 2018. I can’t wait to see what this year brings for Cupful of Kale and I have so many recipe ideas that I can’t wait to develop and share with you!
After looking at my top posts on the blog in 2018 it is clear that you guys love all the sweet treats – cookies, cake, chocolate!
So this year I plan on bringing you even more sweet recipes to satisfy all your cravings! There will still be plenty of savoury recipes too though.
To top this cake off I toasted some almonds and dusted some cinnamon and icing sugar on top. It adds a lovely crunch and deeper flavour to the cake. It also makes it look super pretty!
This upside down cake recipe is great because it is just one layer and you don’t have to worry about icing and assembling layers.
It would be a great cake to make for occasions when you don’t want to spend hours baking something!
And no one will ever know this cake is vegan, I promise!
For more fruity cake recipes you may enjoy:
Lemon and Poppyseed Drizzle Loaf
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Peanut Butter Frosting
One of my most popular recipes is this lemon and elderflower cake, if you want something a bit more special this is perfect!
As always if you make this upside down pear and almond cake be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!
Don’t forget to follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram – I’d love to see you all there!
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Upside Down Pear & Almond Cake
This vegan upside down pear and almond cake is the perfect sweet treat. It's fluffly, moist and is lightly spiced with cinnamon and cardamom.
Ingredients
- 2 pears
- 270g self raising flour
- 50 g ground almonds
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 200g golden caster sugar
- 270ml unsweetned almond milk
- 120ml rapseed oil
- Inch of fresh ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 4 tbsp flaked almonds
Instructions
Pre heat the oven to 160C fan/180C/350F.
Grease and line a 9" cake tin. Peel the pears and cut into thin slices, I cut the pears into quarters and then sliced the quarters into 3-4 slithers. Arrange them at the bottom of the pan so that there is an even layer of pear.
In a large mixing bowl sift the flour and then add the baking powder, ground almonds, sugar and spices. Mix with a spoon.
Next add the almond milk, rapeseed oil and ginger. Fold until combined but do not over mix.
Pour on top of the pears into the cake tin. Place in the oven for 35 minutes.
Whilst the cake is baking, toast the almonds in a dry pan on medium high heat until browned.
After 35 minutes, check the cake. Insert a skewer in and check that it comes out clean. If it doesnt, leave it in for a few more minutes.
Once cooled, transfer to a cooling rack and peel off the baking paper.
Top with the toasted almond, some cinnamon and icing sugar.
Notes
You can use any neutral flavoured oil. I used conference pears.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 352Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 439mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 3gSugar: 25gProtein: 5g
Miriam
Friday 22nd of September 2023
Sounds like a lovely recipe and your commenters agree. I would need to make it gluten free. I can create the gf flour but I imagine I would need to increase the baking powder... would you know by how much?
Tamsin
Monday 25th of September 2023
Hi Miriam, I haven't tested this gf so can't say for sure but I would opt for a gf self raising flour like Doves Farm. Thanks, Tamsin xo
Janet L Kenworthy
Saturday 23rd of October 2021
Just curious...self-rising flour AND baking powder? Is this right?
Tamsin
Tuesday 26th of October 2021
Hi Janet, yes that is right. It just helps give it an extra lift. Tamsin xo
Marie Richards
Wednesday 27th of January 2021
Easy to make although I used ground ginger as ran out of time and wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with the fresh. The finished cake looked fantastic and tasted delicious warm and cold. We especially liked the toasted almond topping. I used cardamom pods ground up and if I made it again I would use a bit less. I used 3 pears, that was lovely, could possibly have used 4. Was really nice on its own or with yoghurt. We didn't rate it with custard. Would definitely make again, a lovely midweek treat which uses up ripe pears.
Michal Sarfati
Friday 22nd of January 2021
Great recipe. Took longer to bake than stated but the result is excellent. I also used less sugar.
Madi
Friday 10th of April 2020
Is it possible to try without ground almonds (maybe substitute for extra flour?)
Thanks!
Tamsin
Saturday 11th of April 2020
Hi Madi, thanks for your comment. Yes is should be fine to just do a straight swap for flour, maybe do it a bit at a time until the batter looks the right consistency. Thanks, Tamsin xo