Pear / Cranberry upside down cake!

I keep buying more and more fruit.   Just can't resist the summer selections.  Sure love to bake so  here goes a new recipe that  I tried using pears. I have made pineapple upside down cakes in the past(my hubby's favorite) but since I had 3 pears I decided to try my hand at a pear cake with some dried cranberries..I'm thinking this may be a keeper for the holidays..Here goes:

I served it warm with some vanilla ice cream..

Pear/ Cranberry  upside down cake

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 3/4 cups firmly packed light-brown sugar

• 3 firm but ripe pears, such as Anjou
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 cup cranberries
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup milk, room temperature

Directions

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine 6 tablespoons butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar in a medium skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until melted and thoroughly combined, about 6 minutes. Pour into a 10-by-2-inch  round cake pan.

2.      Peel pears, core, and slice into 1/2-inch-thick wedges. Coat with lemon juice, and arrange on top of brown-sugar mixture in a spiral pattern around edge of pan. Fan out slices in center.(I've got to work on this aspect of artful design) Sprinkle 1/2 cup cranberries over pears, and set aside.

3.      Sift flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger together in a medium bowl, and set aside. Combine remaining 6 tablespoons of butter with remaining cup brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer, and beat until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add milk alternately with flour mixture, beginning and ending with four; beat until smooth. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup cranberries; pour over fruit in pan. Bake until a tester inserted in the center of cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes to 50 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around ends and invert onto a serving platter. A nice touch is to serve it warm with  ice cream..  I'm bringing this dessert to a friends home tonight so I'll let you know how they liked it.    Note: Delicious..only addition I'd make is that I would add some cranberries to batter..I forgot to do that!  The cake was moist, sweet and had just the hint of spice that brought out the fruit..It will be a holiday must!  You may want to bookmark this recipe..

Happy Baking from my kitchen to yours,

8/12/11
9/12/13