Fall baking season is upon us, and I’m so excited to share my first Fall creation of the year! This Spiced Pear Upside Down Cake is a fun play on the classic pineapple version and will bring this cherished dessert straight from Summer and right into Fall! Not only does this cake taste and look amazing, but it’s made using simple shortcuts to save you time and effort in the kitchen!
I am SO excited that Fall is almost here, and I love all the yummy Fall desserts I’ve seen around blogland lately! Pumpkin is definitely my first love when it comes to Fall flavors, but apple and pear are very close behind! This weekend we had company over for dinner, and I wanted to come up with a dessert using some beautiful pears I picked up from the store. I decided to make a Spiced Pear Upside Down Cake, swapping the classic pineapple rings for delicious fresh pears!
I absolutely LOVE the way this recipe turned out! Not only does it look super impressive with all the caramelized pear slices lining the top of the cake, but it tastes incredible as well! The cake itself is moist and fluffy and the perfect foundation for those delicious sliced pears. Melted butter and brown sugar coat the pears while baking and turn them perfectly tender and sweet. And the spice added to the fruit makes them absolutely divine! I could almost just eat the pears off the top and leave the cake on my plate… Well, ALMOST : )
This cake may look all elegant and fancy pants, but don’t let it fool you! It really couldn’t be easier to make! Instead of baking a cake from scratch, I use a box of yellow cake mix, and my family honestly can never tell the difference. I love to make things from scratch, but when you’re short on time and don’t have the patience for it, there are so many great kitchen solutions to use! Another great baking shortcut: pumpkin pie spice. I wanted my pears to have the warm, spiced flavors of Fall, and rather than mixing a handful of different spices I just used my handy jar of pumpkin pie spice. It has all the delicious flavors you’ll need and saves you a few steps!
For my dessert, I used a Betty Crocker Super Moist Butter Recipe Yellow cake mix. I love the rich, buttery flavor of this cake, but any yellow cake mix you can find will do! This cake mix in particular called for 1 cup water, 1/3 cup softened butter, and 3 eggs, but just follow the instructions on your cake mix package.
After baking for 45 minutes, your cake should be just about perfect. You’ll want to cool it on a wire rack for 5 minutes, and then invert the cake onto your desired serving plate. Now let everyone oooh and aaaah over your gorgeous creation before diving in! It really is something to be marveled at : )
So if you’re looking for an easy Fall dessert that will really impress your friends and family, this recipe is definitely worth trying! After eating this pear cake, my boys told me it needs to be passed down in our family for generations and generations! I wonder where they come up with this stuff…
Spiced Pear Upside Down Cake
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 pears, peeled
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 package (15.25 ounces) yellow cake mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup softened butter
3 eggs
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter in a 9″ round cake pan and heat in oven until butter is melted. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter. Cut peeled pears in half lengthwise and remove cores. Cut pears again lengthwise in 1/4″ thick slices and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle pears with pumpkin pie spice and gently toss to coat. Arrange pear slices over the butter mixture in pan, slightly overlapping. Prepare cake batter as directed on package using water, butter, and eggs. Carefully spoon cake batter over the pears. Bake cake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake for 5 minutes on a wire rack, then carefully invert cake onto a serving plate.
Notes:
– I used a Betty Crocker Super Moist Butter Recipe Yellow cake mix, but any yellow cake mix will do. This mix called for 1 cup water, 1/3 cup softened butter, and 3 eggs, but use the cake recipe as instructed on your package.
– Inspired by a Kraft recipe.
More dessert ideas:
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Fall food is, hands down, the best food there is. Gorgeous recipe <3
Kallie @ But First, Coffee
Hi Liz,
I love upside down cake, and this recipe looks like a must try. It’s perfect for all seasons. Thanks for sharing.
– Erin
http://www.erinbettis.com
I love pumpkin pie spice and pears are one of my favourite fruits. Together in this cake they must be fabulous. I’m sure your guests didn’t give a hoot that the cake was made using a mix, all they cared about would have been how wonderful it looked and how delicious it must have tasted. With the boys saying that this recipe must be passed down through the generations to come it’s obvious how much they enjoyed your lovely creation.
That does look perfect! What a great way to update an old classic!
Lovely! That must taste ssoooo yummy… Lovely presentation ! 🙂
http://www.thesunshinegirll.blogspot.co.uk
What a beautiful photo of your cake. Very nice Andi
I love pear too Liz! This cake is so darned pretty – I MUST make it and take it somewhere to show off 🙂 Gorgeous!
This. Is. Gorgeous! I love how easy you make it sound too!!!
This sounds (and looks) so good, Liz! I love pears and I bet they made a delicious cake!
I love pineapple upside down cake and pear sounds like a tasty new version!
I’ve never baked with pears but I love eating them fresh
Liz, this looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it!
Perfect timing! We just went apple and pear picking this weekend and have way more pears than I know what to do with. Definitely baking this very soon — do you mind if I ask how ripe your pears were? I’m curious to know if I should wait to make this in a couple of days or if the pears can be used right away.)
I make a very similar recipe with pears using a Gingerbread cake mix (Hodgson Mill) and bake it in a 10″ cast iron skillet. It’s quite hearty and nice for the Fall. It’s good served warm with a nice dollop of freshly whipped cream and sprinkle with a little cinnamon on top or a spice of your choice. Serve with a good cup of coffee and it’s wonderful!
Just tried your recipe tonight – Yum! Used a spice cake mix and also added caramels to the butter/brown sugar/pear layer. I doubted your recommendation to bake that long but you were right – it needs the full 45 minutes. I made cupcakes from the rest of the mix. Huge hit at our house tonight w/ a topping of ice cream. Decadent!!!! Thank you.
How much of the cake mix do you use? I don’t want to overflow the plan! Thanks.
Hey Liz! I used the entire package in this recipe. Depending on what size pan you’re using, it should all fit! Hope you enjoy this yummy cake as much as we do… you’ll have to let me know what you think!
I had this at a friends house and it was delicious. You can tell it’s a box mix but it’s still yummy.
I can’t wait to try your pear upside down cake. It looks amazing. Pinning for later. Theresa
Thank you so much, Theresa! I can’t wait to make it again this year!
Made this last night, delicious…..this is a keeper.
I’m SO happy to hear that, Liz!! Enjoy a slice for me too! Thanks for sharing this… I really appreciate it!
My husband is diabetic so I made this cake using brown sugar splenda and a sugar free yellow cake mix and it was delicious!!
What a sweet wife you are! I bet he was one happy guy. 🙂 Glad to hear this turned out for you both!
This was an amazing recipe. Thanks for sharing my family enjoyed this cake a lot!
I’ve made this cake twice……love it!
Wow! So good! We have a pear tree so I was looking for different recipes to try. I had everything on hand for this one, so I gave it a go. I did enhance it a bit because i wanted to make sure it wasn’t dry since there’d be no frosting (and I didn’t have vanilla ice cream to go with it)- in the cake mix,I used milk instead of water, 3 duck eggs, and added some of the pumpkin pie spice and a little applesauce to the batter as well- it came out SUPER moist! I didn’t pay attention, so instead of melting the butter first, I just mixed the spice-coated pear slices with the butter and brown sugar in the pan and then arranged the pears- it still came out just fine! My husband and three young sons loved this cake so much- the kids often just eat the icing or leave a lot of the actual cake on their plates, but not this cake. They ate every bit and asked for seconds, and then they ate all of that! I will definitely be making this cake again- it’s a new favorite in our family! Thank you!