Vegan Upside Down Pear Cake with Crushed Candy Cap
My veganized take on Mark Bittman’s Upside Down Pear Cake that uses good olive oil instead of eggs and has crushed candy cap mushrooms in the cake batter.
- Cook Time: 50
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Scale
- 11 tablespoons unsalted vegan butter, divided
- ¼ cups packed or 49 grams of organic light brown sugar
- 3 pears, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- ¾ cups or 172 grams organic cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup good olive oil
- 1 ½ cups or 320 grams of cake flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsweetened vegan milk
- 1/2 tablespoon of fresh ground candy cap mushroom
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Bring a small pan to medium heat. Melt three tablespoons of the vegan butter and immediately add the brown sugar. Cool until brown sugar is dissolved.
- Bring heat to a boil and cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking and burning. When done, remove from heat and set aside.
- When the mixture has cooled down, pour into a 9-inch, parchment-lined baking pan and arrange the pear slices in an overlapping circle on top, starting from the middle, making a pattern resembling a pinwheel.
- Add the remaining eight tablespoons of unsalted vegan butter and organic cane sugar into the standing mixer’s bowl. Using whisk attachment, beat the remaining vegan butter and the organic cane sugar on high until light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla extract and olive oil gradually. Keep mixing until smooth.
- In another large bowl, combine cake flour, baking powder , ground candy cap mushrooms and salt.
- Alternate adding cake flour mixture and vegan milk into the butter mixture, three times.
- With a spatula, carefully and evenly spread batter over the pears, careful not to disturb the pears.
- Bake on middle rack in oven for 50 minutes or until a light to medium golden brown.
- Insert toothpick in the middle of of the cake to test for doneness. If dry, it’s done. Let cake cool for 5 minutes. If it’s not dry, let bake for another 5-10 minutes or until done according to toothpick test.
- After 5 minutes of cooling in a pan; put a plate on top of cake and carefully flip it so plate is on bottom and pan is on top. Let sit in a covered container overnight to let the flavors settle and develop.
- Before serving, add a dusting of powdered sugar on top, letting it soak into the pear slices on top.