Photo of Spiced Pear Upside-Down Cake by WW

Spiced Pear Upside-Down Cake

3
Points® value
Total Time
1 hr 15 min
Prep
20 min
Cook
50 min
Serves
9
Difficulty
Easy
You’ll be proud to serve this beautiful cake to guests. Instead of layering pear wedges or slices into a pan, we use pear halves for a bolder visual effect. In place of the usual butter-and sugar-heavy syrup in the bottom of the pan, we use reduced apple cider mixed with a little monk fruit sweetener and just one tablespoon of butter; you still get the same gooey effect, just with far less fat and fewer calories.

Ingredients

Cooking spray

4 spray(s)

Apple cider

¾ cup(s)

Monk fruit sweetener with erythritol

¾ cup(s), divided

Unsalted butter

1 tbsp(s)

Ground cardamom

tsp(s), divided

Bosc pear

3 medium, peeled and cut in half vertically

Whole wheat pastry flour

1¼ cup(s)

Baking powder

1 tsp(s)

Ground cinnamon

1 tsp(s)

Baking soda

½ tsp(s)

Table salt

¼ tsp(s)

Unsweetened applesauce

½ cup(s)

1% low-fat buttermilk

cup(s)

Canola oil

2 tbsp(s)

Egg

2 large, lightly beaten

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper; coat the parchment paper with cooking spray.
  2. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the cider, ¼ cup monk fruit sweetener, and butter to a boil; cook until slightly syrupy and reduced to about ⅓ cup, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat; stir in ⅛ tsp cardamom. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Remove any visible seeds from the pear halves with a sharp knife. Arrange the pear halves, cut side down, in the pan.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining ½ cup monk fruit sweetener and ¼ tsp cardamom, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together the applesauce, buttermilk, oil, and eggs. Add the applesauce mixture to the flour mixture; stir until well combined. Pour the batter evenly over the pears in the pan.
  4. Bake the cake at 350°F until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 42 to 45 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan for 5 minutes. Carefully invert the cake onto a wire rack. Cut into 9 equal pieces. Serve warm or at room temperature.
  5. Serving size: 1 piece