Pear & Chocolate Upside Down Cake

I don't know what it is about upside down cakes, but whenever I turn the page of a magazine to see the perfect cake with glistening, caramelised fruit on top, my attention is immediately captured. When I heard that Chelsea had released their own Organic Coconut Sugar, I thought what better excuse to try both their product and a new recipe at the same time! Common cake recipes use a base of flour, white sugar, butter and so on, but with this recipe I wanted to use a few different ingredients to create a slightly more wholesome cake (don't get me wrong, this cake is definitely still a treat!)

Chelsea Organic Coconut Sugar is a great alternative for more health conscious bakers who are wanting to avoid cane sugar, and now that it is available in NZ supermarkets, coconut sugar is a lot more accessible and affordable for everyday kiwis. With a slightly more healthy approach in mind, I have made a couple of little substitutes in the form of spelt flour and organic/whole products where possible in combination with Chelsea's new addition. Coconut sugar brings a rich, caramel colour to baking, but it also holds a lot of flavour as well; perfect to pair with the dark chocolate and fresh pear used in this cake. 

I also have a $50 Chelsea Sugar prize pack to giveaway! All you need to do to be in to win is leave a comment on my Facebook post with the hashtag #chelseasugar and let me know what you would make with this new product, extra brownie points too if you post a picture of your creation! Competition closes 3rd December, open to NZ residents only.
Ingredients
2tbsp butter

1/3 cup Chelsea Organic Coconut Sugar

2 pears, halved and cored

120g unsalted butter

1 cup Chelsea Organic Coconut Sugar

​3 eggs

1tsp vanilla paste

​2tsp baking powder
1/3 cup ground almonds

1 1/2 cups white spelt flour

1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks

Caramel sauce to serve:

1/3 cup Chelsea Organic Coconut Sugar

1tbsp butter

1/4 cup cream
Method:
  1. Preheat your oven to 170C, and line a 20cm round cake tin. 
  2. In a pot, combine 2tbsp butter and 1/3 cup Chelsea Organic Coconut Sugar. Set over a low to medium heat, and whisk well until a caramel forms, then pour into your cake tin. 
  3. Take the halved pears and cut them into half cm slices, then arrange on top of the caramel. 
  4. In a mixing bowl, use an electric whisk to cream together the butter (175g) and coconut sugar (1 cup), until light and creamy. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla. Next fold in the baking powder, ground almonds, spelt flour and chocolate chunks. (If you feel the mixture needs some liquid, add a splash of milk to help combine all of the ingredients).
  5. Spoon the cake mixture over the top of the pears, and use a spoon to level the top. 
  6. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
  7. To make the caramel sauce, combine all three ingredients in a small pot and cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar and butter have melted, and the sauce thickens. 
  8. To serve, slice the cake and pour over a generous drizzle of caramel sauce. 

Thanks to Chelsea for making this post possible, all content and opinions are my own.