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Vegan Pear Upside Down Cake. This amazing Vegan Upside Down Cake needs just 1 Bowl and 40 mins. Use other fruits for variation. Vegan Nutfree Soyfree Recipe. Glutenfree option. Jump to Recipe

I had some pears leftover after entertaining my niece recently and whipped up this upside down cake that she could take along. For some reason hubbs isn’t fond of pears and lately they’ve started giving me headaches if eaten raw. Go figure. But everything works out for everyone in this cake! A gooey caramelized top, soft delicious cake, a dollop of whipped coconut cream.
The pears are sliced and arranged on the bottom of a pan. Maple syrup or brown sugar helps them caramelize during baking. Then a simple vanilla batter on top. Bake until done, then serve with some whipped coconut cream or vanilla ice cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Delish! Use the same method to make pineapple upside down cake or use peaches or apple.

More Cakes and bakes
- Cinnamon Swirl Cake
- Eggnog Pound Cake
- Easy Coffee Cake – Cinnamon Streusel Cake GF option
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Marble Cake
- Applesauce spice cake GF option
- Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate Pumpkin Frosting. GF option
Gluten-free
- GF Cashew Butter Chocolate Marble Cake.
- Gluten-free Cinnamon Roll Bread yeast-free.
- GF Carrot Banana Bread – Also grain-free.
- Sweet Potato Crumb Cake. GF
Step by Step Photos:

Assemble the ingredients. Line the bake pan with parchment or grease really well. Arrange the pear slices. Drizzle maple syrup or sprinkle brown sugar all over.

Mix all the wet ingredients. Then add dry and mix to make a smooth batter. Pour over the pears, even it out and bake.


Vegan Pear Upside Down Cake

Ingredients
- 2 Pears, , thinly sliced (1/4 inch thick
- 3 tbsp maple syrup , or brown sugar for more caramelized, or half of each
Cake:
Wet:
- 3/4 cup non dairy milk, such as almond, soy
- 1/4 cup pear puree or applesauce, (I usually blend up leftover pear and use it)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice or chai spice, or cinnamon + cardamom
Dry:
- 1.5 cups flour, (I use a mix of all purpose and wheat), see notes for Glutenfree
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Line a 8 or 9 inch cake pan with parchment at the bottom. Arrange pear slices as you like. Pour the maple syrup (or sprinkle the sugar) all over the pear slices. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180C)
- Blend the remaining pear in a blender with 1-2 tsp of water until it is like applesauce. Measure out 1/4 cup of the puree and use in the cake. Or use applesauce.
- Mix all the wet ingredients in a bowl until well combined.
- Mix the baking powder, baking soda and salt into the flour. Add 1.25 cups flour to the wet and mix in. Add 1-2 tbsp more at a time to make a thick batter, not too stiff but not too flowy.
- Pour gently on top of the pear slices in the cake pan and spread to even it out.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick from the enter comes out clean.
- Cool for 15 mins, then remove cake by inverting it over a dish. Carefully peel off the parchment.
- Sprinkle a good pinch of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice or other fave spice blend on the pears. Cool for another 10 mins, then slice and serve with whipped coconut cream or vegan ice cream
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.










Hi Richa,
I made this cake yesterday. I used fruits I had on hand, which were frozen blueberries and some pineapple chunks. It was perfect! This will be my go to fruit upside down cake. Thanks for the recipe.
awesome!
So Yummy 🙂 Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe.
thanks!
So easy! And a perfect way to use the pears that ripen too quickly.
totally
Delicious! This upside down cake is perfect! Everyone in my family loved it! Thank you !
yay~
You are a genius! I have a non-vegan recipe for this that I used to love, and have missed it since eliminating the eggs and dairy. In your experience, does coconut sugar carmelize the way brown sugar does? Thank you.
it should be fine. It doesnt thicken as quickly as brown sugar, but in the cake it has the moisture from pears which will help with the caramelization.
Thank you! This recipe looks so good — & easy peasy! 😉 I’m fresh out of maple syrup. Could agave work, or would that not thicken enough? Otherwise I have coconut blossom syrup as well as coconut blossom sugar…? (Or is that the same as coconut sugar that Anne asks about above?)
By brown sugar, I’m assuming you mean the sticky variety?
Agave will work, use the same amount as indicated for maple syrup. Brown sugar as in the granulated sticky type.
Forgot to ask you which variety of pear did you use in the recipe. Thanks
I like bartlett
Looks fabulous…. another great recipe. Do you know what the saturated fat content (nutritional value) is please. Big thanks.
its prob less than 1 gm per serving, so the widget is defaulting to zero. Let me check
yep its .3 gm per slice so it rounds up to 0. updated it
Would the cake be successful if I use a GF mix like Bobs Red Mill? Also, what type of pear do you recommend?
i dont particularly have good sucess with bobs gf mixes, but people do. You can use that with half almond flour and bake 1 muffin to check if the batter is rising and staying well. If it falls, you will need more flour for a thicker batter and bake into smaller cake dishes or muffins. a larger pan will be more susceptible to falling and gummy result.
This looks fabulous! I can’t wait to try it!
Looks wonderful! But if there are pears, there has to be cardamom! So I’d add 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom to make it perfect. Can’t wait to try this recipe.
yes of course!