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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.










This cake looks fancy but is actually so easy to make! I love the flavors – the pear really shines through, and it’s sweet but not too sweet. This may become my go-to dessert to bring to dinner parties.
Perfect
Can you use all purpose flour only or does it have to be a mix?
all AP is fine
For pear-sauce, do I need to cook pear and then blend it? Or is it okay to skip cooking pear?
It’s just blended raw pear. I just purée the leftover pear left after slicing
I have used this recipe twice now, but used sliced plums off my tree instead of pears. It’s delicious and loved by others too. Thank you.
We made this cake this morning and the whole family thought it was delicious! We will definitely be making it again – thank you for the recipe
thanks for popping in ♡
My first upside down pear cake. Made the gluten free version. Made the pear sauce using my cold press juicer, adding the juice back to the mushy bits and mixing into the wet ingredients. I did use a bottom removable cake pan and all the juicy deliciousness of the maple syrup slipped its way out of the bottom, still it was ultra delicious. I imagine it will be even more incredible when the cake absorbs all of the sugar juices when I use the right pan. Many thumbs up!
wow – sounds great. exactly – sometimes the pan makes all the difference
Just made this!
Very yummy.
Used coconut sugar instead of sugar and it waw still plenty sweet for me.
So good! Certainly recommend it!!
perfect!! thank you
Fantastic recipe! This cake was so easy to prepare and had a great, springy texture even when made oil-free. The pears took on a lovely and mellow flavor after being cooked. I can’t wait to try this recipe out with other fruits!
so happy to hear, thank you
Lovely Cake! Would you happen to have any substitute fo roil? My mother’s fave is pineapple upside down cake but she follow an SOS (no sugar, oil, salt) diet for medical reasons. I can sub the sugar and salt but i am stuck with sub for oil. Any suggestions i can test i would greatly appreciate 🙂 thanks for your delish recipes!
i’m sorry, i just saw the notes with oil fre eoptions…. 🙂 🙂 thanks anyways I’ll let you know how it turns out. Apple sauce on pineapple cake should work great 🙂
Delicious recipe. I just made this for the third time and it’s always worked out. This last time I used whole meal spelt flour because that’s what I had. Added a tbs of arrowroot to help it along. A tbs of panela sugar and some vanilla make the syrup which works its way into the cake when you turn it upside down. I only use cardamom/vanilla as aromatics in the batter because I loooove the flavor that combo produces with the pear. A++++