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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, this looks amazing and will definitely be trying soon! Do you know if the cake freezes well?
great! you could freeze it after its baked. the texture of the pears may change slightly and release moisture when thawing. so it won’t be exactly the same as freshly baked but it will still be very good.
Hi Richa,
I tried your one bowl orange cake successfully before. But this time this upside down cake didn’t turn out and I don’t understand what went wrong. I followed the recipe exactly except for the oil part, I put 1/4 pear puree instead (so total wet ingredient has 1/2 cup puree, oiless). The cake turned out gluey and the pear topping was wet. But otherwise the taste was good and ate it as pudding cake instead.
Hi, G K. In the notes I recommend to Use 2 tbsp apple sauce + 2 tbsp non dairy yogurt. It will turn out much better with the non dairy yogurt.
Thanks so much. I will try again. Last time I didn’t have yogurt so instead I risked to use only puree
If it was gluey, it needed more flour. The pairs might’ve had extra moisture. So the purée along with the layered pears added more moisture to the cake than it could handle. You want a thick batter. So add more flour and also bake a few mins longer
This is how mine turned out as well- gluey batter and wet pears. I did the GF (Arrowroot starch instead of potato starch, 1:1 swap) and oil free version as per your notes. I ended up adding more of the GF mix but maybe my batter still wasn’t thick enough? Also my pears were somewhat ripe and wet from the start. After I turned the cake upside down, after cooking it at 180C for 45 minutes, I placed it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Pears didn’t look as wet. My family said it was good and they did go for seconds but personally I felt it could have been better with consistency and thickness. It didn’t rise very much or if at all. Would like to make it again. I have a few questions:
1. Do ingredients need to brought to room temp before mixing?
2. Is it possible to over mix the batter?
3. If there a difference with how it turns out using oil and not using oil?
4. How do you know when the batter is thick enough?
Did you include the rice/oat or almond flour as well??
I made this cake for my daughter who is vegan and I taste all my cakes myself and I have to say it was delicious so simple to make and goes down a treat as mentioned with ice cream. I’m making another one for my husband and myself
I forgot to rate this delicious upside down pear cake top Mark’s 5 stars
Awesome, thank you!
Can I freeze this cake and if so how long for??TIA
I have cooked this numerous times always turns out beautiful, but would like to cook it in advance and freeze for Christmas day
you could freeze for a month or two – great for Christmas
Great, I’m so glad!
Had some pears going off and this was perfect! Excellent recipe, very easy to follow. Delicious cake. Everyone enjoyed it in our house.
it’s about to go off!! Thanks Rebecca
Hello, do you think this will work on a Bundt cake mold? Since there’s no way to put parchment paper on the Bundt will non stick spray work ? Thank you
That should work, just check to see if it needs to bake longer.
This was wonderful! I had to adapt it some for our low-sugar needs: we only eat 1 1/2 teaspoons of added sugar per serving. To get to that, I used 2 tablespoons of brown sugar sprinkled on the pear slices and then 2 tablespoons of white sugar in the cake itself. To boost the flavor to make up for that lost sweetness, I opted for your suggestion of half-and-half white to whole wheat flour, used freshly made almond milk (slightly thicker version of Minimalist Baker’s recipe), used pureed pear as you do to replace the applesauce, used roasted hazelnut oil, and added a couple of tablespoons of the almond paste left over from the almond milk batch. (Next time, I think I’ll up that to a quarter-cup: it’s not really liquid and not really dry, so it didn’t seem to upset the ratio.) I also boosted the cinnamon to 2 teaspoons and added half a teaspoon of ginger. (That combination makes a low-sugar food taste sweeter.)
It turned out beautiful! We didn’t miss the sugar that was left out.
mmmmmmm hazelnut oil. sounds good. thx for the info. I love cinnamon in savoury dishes as well!
Loved the crumb of this cake, found it to be a good breakfast cake like a banana bread replacement. Really happy I found your site I usually try converting “normal” recipes to vegan and it’s hit and miss, it’s good to have a reliable site like yours thank you 🙂
Great to hear Kitty =). no more guess work and wasted ingredients
Made this 2x now. 1x for my dad who doesnt like pears. He had many slices over the next few days. When my MIL saw the pics, she told her husband who kept asking about it. So I made another for their house. They loved it too. Didnt understand what “vegan” meant but certainly didn’t stop them from thoroughly enjoying.
exactly! you don’t have to miss out on flavour with vegan recipes at all!
I tried this cake for my wedding anniversary. It was perfect for a vegetarian family. Loved it. Thank you🙂👍
That is lovely, much appreciated.
Couldnt sleep and had a bag of pears. An hour later – voila – an amazing, easy, fragrant pear cake. Thank you!!
I have some photos but not sure how I can upload them……
great solution for insomnia! I don’t currently have the photo sharing feature on.