Pear and Coffee Upside-Down Cake

• 40gunsalted butter
• 3firm pears, peeled, cored and cut into 5mm slices
• 60glight brown sugar
• 2 tspinstant coffee granules
• 30mlboiling water
• 110gunsalted butter, softened
• 110gcaster sugar
• 2large eggs
• 150gself-raising flour
• 1 tspvanilla extract
• fine salt

Method

1. 1Heat the oven to 180°C fan. Line the base of a 20cm round cake tin with baking parchment.
2. 2Use a little of the 40g butter to grease the lined tin. Melt the remaining butter in a small saucepan over a low heat for 2 minutes until liquid, then stir in the light brown sugar until it looks wet and grainy.
3. 3Pour the buttery sugar into the tin and arrange the pear slices in overlapping circles. Pack them closely because they shrink as they bake.
4. 4Dissolve the instant coffee in the boiling water, then leave it for 5 minutes until warm rather than hot. This keeps the butter mixture from splitting.
5. 5Beat the softened butter and caster sugar in a bowl for 3 minutes until paler and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the coffee, vanilla and a pinch of salt.
6. 6Fold in the self-raising flour just until no dry streaks remain. Spoon the batter over the pears and level it gently, taking care not to disturb the fruit layer.
7. 7Bake for 45 minutes until the sponge is deep golden, springy in the centre and a skewer pushed into the cake comes out clean. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes until the sides have pulled away slightly.
8. 8Run a knife around the edge, place a serving plate over the tin and turn it out in one confident movement. Peel away the parchment and leave for 10 minutes until the pear topping has settled into a glossy layer.

Per serving

kcal

344

protein

4.1g

fibre

2.6g

carbs

45.2g

fat

16.9g