I love gingerbread! Maybe it was because my mother baked it on a regular basis for my lunch box when I was in elementary school. Mom’s gingerbread was light and delicate and always frosted. Not many of my friends were impressed in those days – they preferred some of Mom’s other desserts – her cookies and chocolate chip cake. However, in high school, my friends became much friendlier on the days it would show-up as part of my lunch.

Then, I grew up, and a lightning bolt struck when my husband and I were traveling north, stopping at a restaurant along Maine’s rocky coastline for lunch. Gingerbread was on the dessert menu, and I knew I had to try it. That was a major lightbulb moment – the gingerbread was deep and dark, rich and sensuous. Served with freshly whipped cream, that gingerbread was better than any chocolate cake I ever had. My love affair with this homespun dessert has never wavered.

I stumbled on the idea of an upside-down pear gingerbread decades ago when I first discovered Gourmet Magazine. The article I was reading concerned an autumn menu, and dessert was gingerbread – with a twist. In Gourmet’s version, the pears were cut into wedges and carefully placed on the brown sugar and butter topping. After being baked, it was sliced into wedges, inverted, cooled, and accompanied by a perfectly round scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Gilding the Lilly

Over the years, the original upside-down gingerbread morphed into several renditions. The recipe below is a company-worthy elegant version, and each component is easily made ahead. Get out your bowls and your measuring cups – your friends will love your for it!

Craveable Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread Cake with Crème Anglaise

Serves 6

• SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
  • a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet

• TOPPING
  • 2 firm Bosc pears  
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup packed Imperial light brown sugar

• CAKE
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup molasses  
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to a warm room temperature
  • 1/2 cup packed Imperial light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg

• ADDITIONAL PEAR TOPPING FOR SERVING (optional)
  • 2 Bosc pears, peeled, core removed and coarsely shopped
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 4 tablespoons firmly packed Imperial Light Brown Sugar

• ACCOMPANIMENT
  • Classic Crème Anglaise (recipe below)
  • Candied ginger, chopped

For topping:

Peel and core pears and coarsely chop or cut pears into 20 wedges (4 wedges each half). Melt butter in skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides. Reduce heat to low, then sprinkle brown sugar over bottom of skillet and cook, undisturbed, 3 minutes. Scatter chopped pears over sugar and cook, undisturbed, 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Set aside.

For cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

Whisk together molasses, and boiling water in a small bowl.

Beat together butter, brown sugar, and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes, then alternately mix in dry ingredients and wet ingredients in 3 batches at low speed until smooth.

Pour batter over topping in skillet, spreading evenly and being careful not to disturb pears. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes.

Place skillet on a wire rack 5 minutes, allowing cake to cool slightly. At the end of 5 minutes, run a thin knife around the edge of the skillet, then invert cake onto plate. Replace any pears that stick to skillet.

For additional pear topping:

Melt butter and brown sugar in a non-stick skillet, add chopped pears and sauté until pears are tender.

To serve:

When cool, use a sharp 3-inch round cutter to cut the cake into small servings (or cut into small squares or diamonds). Pour a pool of Crème Anglaise in the middle of individual dinner plates, place a round of gingerbread in the middle of the Crème and spoon additional pear topping on the gingerbread. Scatter  with chopped ginger.

Classic Crème Anglaise

• SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
  • Large shallow bowl filled with ice and water
  • Medium bowl with a fine mesh strainer

• CRÈME
  • 2 cups cream
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Set a large fine mesh strainer over a medium bowl and set the bowl in a shallow pan of ice cold water.

Place the cream in a large saucepan and cook over moderately low heat just until small bubbles appear around the edge of the cream, for about 5 minutes.

In another medium bowl, whisk the sugar and egg yolks just until combined. Whisk in half of the hot cream in a thin stream. Pour the mixture into the saucepan with the remaining hot cream and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the sauce has thickened slightly, 4 to 5 minutes. Immediately strain the sauce into the bowl in the cold-water bath to stop the cooking.

Stir the vanilla into the cream mixture. Refrigerate until chilled.