I am of an age that I can clearly remember pineapple upside down cakes being at every family, neighborhood and church event. They were everywhere. My mom used to make a 9×13″ pineapple upside down cake, that she probably baked once a month for some event. While I love and appreciate a good pineapple upside down cake, I was looking to change things up a little for our holiday season. This pumpkin upside down cake is a dairy and gluten free, delicious spice cake with pears and cranberries on the top.
Now at first glance you make think that pears and cranberries on top of a pumpkin upside down cake really doesn’t make sense, but I am telling you, it is a winning combination.
And it is about one of the prettiest upside down cakes that I have ever seen. When we were shooting the pictures for this recipe, the first comment from our staff was how beautiful the cake was, and then after the shoot, the second comment was that it was delicious. We have several staff members who are not pumpkin fans, and even they loved it. The pumpkin taste is very, very subtle.
You can make this cake a couple of days in advance. Before serving, remove the cake from the refrigerator to let it warm up a bit. If you lose some of the shine on top, you can use this old bakery trick. Put a couple of tablespoons of apricot preserves in a small bowl and warm it up in the microwave. You want it warm, not hot. Give it a good stir and then lightly brush the top of the cake with the preserves. The preserves will restore the original shine to the cake and you will never taste them.
For more delicious dairy free ideas for your holidays, please visit our recipe page.
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 40-45 minutes |
| Servings |
servings
|
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose gluten free flour mix with xanthan gum may substitute regular all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 Tbsp butter flavored shortening
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs large, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup pumpkin purée
- 5 Tbsp butter substitute divided
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- 3 tsp lemon juice
- 2-4 pears Anjou or Bosc
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup brown sugar light
Ingredients
Cake
Topping
|
Rate this recipe!
|
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- In a medium bowl, whisk dry ingredients together. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer or a large bowl, cream the 6 tablespoons of shortening.
- Add granulated sugar to the creamed shortening and on medium, beat until light and fluffy.
- On low, add eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate each before adding the next, to the shortening mix.
- On low, add vanilla extract and pumpkin purée beat until just incorporated.
- A 1/4 cup at a time, add the dry ingredients to the bowl, beating on low until completely incorporated. The cake batter will be thick.
- Set cake batter aside and assemble the cake topping.
- In a small bowl, melt one tablespoon of butter substitute and mix with 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar.
- Add the fresh cranberries to the bowl and mix until the cranberries are well covered. Microwave on high for two minutes. Set aside to cool.
- In a medium sized bowl, measure out the lemon juice.
- Peel and core and thinly slice the pears. Add to the lemon juice and toss gently until the slices are well coated.
- Add the cinnamon to the bowl and gently toss until the pear slices are completely covered.
- In a separate bowl, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter substitute. Add the light brown sugar to the bowl and stir until combined.
- Spray a 9" round cake pan with cooking spray and cover the bottom with parchment paper.
- Spread the brown sugar mixture evenly in the bottom of the cake pan on top of the parchment paper.
- With a slotted spoon, remove the pears and cranberries, leaving all liquid behind and place in your desired pattern on top of the brown sugar mixture in the bottom of the pan.
- Gently spoon the cake batter on top of the pears and cranberries.
- When all the cake batter has been spooned into the cake pan, gently smooth out the cake batter with an inverted spatula or the back of a spoon. Place the full cake pan on a baking sheet to catch any drips when baking.
- Bake in a 350° oven for 40-45 minutes or until the cake is firm and a tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack for five minutes. After five minutes, carefully invert the cake onto a plate. Remove the parchment paper from the top of the cake and allow the cake to cool completely.
- If making ahead, loosely wrap the completely cooled cake in plastic wrap, avoiding contact with the top of the cake and refrigerate until needed.
This Pumpkin Upside Down cake recipe is dairy free and gluten free.
 |
|
|
|
