Pear Upside-Down Cake

A couple of weeks ago I was telling hubby my desire to configure servers, enlighten myself with the aspects of complex networking, setting up firewalls, configuring DBs and such.You get the idea? So he placed an order for a brand-new server. While I was eagerly waiting for the FedEx guy to come knocking my door, hubby's friend caught wind of this and decided to give(gift) me a server for free.Umm nearly free. So I have a couple of servers at my disposal. Lucky me!
So when hubby went to pick up the server, I had to make something for his considerate friend. Him and his family are strict vegetarians.So I wanted to make something strictly that is egg-free.Keeping in mind that I had 3 ripe Bartlett pears begging to be consumed, I browsed and found a recipe to my liking. And I ended up baking this egg-less version of a recipe I found from Martha's website.Aside from taking a couple of wedges for the pictures, I packed everything else. I have to say this was the tastiest and sweetest cake I ever made. Well, this recipe is from Martha's website. What more assurance does one need? I knew how it was going to turn out even before I bit into a luscious wedge. The sugar in the topping gets gooey when baking and once you invert it, the gooey goodness slowly sinks into the cake making it utterly moist and scrumptious. And yes, the flavor improves over time. So make sure to make it at-least a day before serving.

Sending this and Blueberry CoffeeCake With Streusel Topping, Cinnamon,Sugar and Raisins stuffed baked apples and Cherry Cake as an entry to this month's Monthly Mingle "Baking With Fruit" at Deeba's, brainchild of Meeta@ What's for lunch Honey.

For The Topping:

• 1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, packed (Original calls for "Light")
• 4 Tbsp Butter
• 2 Ripe Bartlett Pears

For The Cake Batter:

• 1-1/2 Cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Whole Milk
• 3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Hodgson Mill Pure Cornstarch
• 1 Ripe Banana, smashed
• 2 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Tool:

• 9-1/2" Round Cake Pan

Procedure:

• Prepare the Topping: In a non-stick pan, melt the butter and dark-brown sugar till the sugar dissolves.

• Grease the Cake pan with a little butter.
• Pour the sugar mixture and spread it evenly.
• Peel, core and cut the pears into 1/4" thick wedges. Arrange the pears in a circular fashion.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Puree the banana and set the pulp aside.
• Sift together baking powder, flour and cornstarch.
• Combine oil, sugar, banana pulp together using an electric mixer. Add salt, milk and vanilla extract.
• Add flour in batches to the combine. 
• Pour the batter on the top of the arranged Pears in the pan.

• Bake for 45 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

• Invert the cake onto a plate or serving dish.
• Cool the cake and cut it into wedges.

Makes 7-8 servings.

Notes:

• If you'd rather use eggs, replace the banana and cornstarch with 2 eggs.

Enjoy!