Upside Down Pear Cake at Heart and Home

Hi there! I'm glad you're here! Today I'm sharing a great pear cake recipe , and also some blog awards that I've recently received.

Here's the cake:

And here are the awards:

Thank you Kim, at Savvy Southern Style for the Beautiful Blogger Award, and Bella, at Bella's Rose Cottage for the Kreativ Blogger award!  I appreciate your kindness, you are both so sweet to pass these awards on to Heart and Home. Part of the tradition of these blog awards is choosing other worthy blogs for the honors. But I would have a hard time narrowing down the field to just a few other blogs! There are so many that I follow and look forward to reading every day. I've gotten inspiration and insight and encouragement from so many of you.  For that reason I invite you, my readers and followers, to grab these award buttons, because I want to share them with all of you!  Then you can pass them on to your favorites if you choose. From me to you, with a big hug and a thank you!  (And I hope that's not considered cheating!)  The other requirement of accepting these awards included sharing some secrets about myself.  My list of seven things you don't know about me is right here - pay attention there will be a quiz later!!

~I'm the designated spider catcher at our house! I try to put them outside after I catch one, especially the big ones. They don't scare me, it's snakes that freak me out!

~In my late teenage years I sold hot dogs from a cute little hot dog cart outside the Air Force base cafeteria (my dad was in the service) . I loved that job!

~I don't eat bacon. It gives me headaches.

~Someday I think it would be fun to have a few pygmy goats on our property ! That's my farm-girl fantasy!

~I really enjoy old movies, and going to a matinee by myself during the week is one of my favorite ways to spend the afternoon.

~In high school I swam on a sychronized swimming team.

~I may have a tiny lipstick obsession. I think I have about 30 tubes of lipstick stashed in a basket right now. Plus the four in my purse. They all look like they could be the same color, why is that?

There you have it.  Fascinating stuff, right?!!

But enough about me, on to more important things: This week's Foodie Friday recipe!

Pear Upside Down Cake

Use fresh pears, peeled and sliced 1/2 " thick

Melt the butter and sugar together until they are a light caramel color.

Don't over cook it! Let it cool a bit.

Arrange the pears on top of the butter/sugar mixture.

Spead the batter over the pears, and bake for 40-45 minutes until golden brown

 and pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Serve warm, with whipped cream or ice cream.

Delicious!

 The complete recipe:

3/4 cup butter (divided: 1/2c, 1/4c)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

4 medium pears (1 1/2 lbs) cored, peeled, sliced into 1/2"thick slices

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/ teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1/4 cup butter in 9"cast iron pan or oven proof pan. Melt butter over medium heat, stir in brown sugar. Cook and stir until sugar is melted and bubbly, remove from heat. Let cool.  (Or make the brown sugar mixture in a sauce pan and pour it into a deep dish 9" cake pan.)

Arrange pear slices in skillet or pan.

In small bowl combine all dry ingredients except sugar, set aside. In large bowl beat remaining softened 1/2 cup butter with granulated sugar until combined. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture on low speed just until combined. ( Batter may appear curdled.)

Spread batter over pears. Bake 40 - 45 minutes or until pick inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 5 minutes. Invert onto plate - serve warm.

This is delicious, an easy. warm dessert to make with winter pears. Enjoy it!

Thanks for stopping by! I'm truly thankful that you chose to spend some of your time  reading the latest post at Heart and Home. I'm very happy to be a part of your day! Leave me a comment to let me know you were here, and I hope you'll come back for another visit soon. I invite you to join me on Wednesdays for Wednesday Gratitude. (It's the linky party where you can post about anything that makes you happy and makes your heart sing.) 

Until next time,

XO

Heidi

Linked to Foodie Friday, at Designs by Gollum. Thanks Michael!