Pear Upside-Down Gingerbread for Two

Begin by preheating the oven to 350F° and greasing a 6” round cake pan with butter.

First, peel the pear, slice in half and core it with a melon baller. Cut each pear half into 6 equal sized pieces. Add the pears, butter, brown sugar and lemon juice to a small skillet. Turn on the heat to medium-high and cook until a bubbling syrup forms around the pears, about 3-4 minutes. Immediately pour the pears into the bottom of the cake pan. Let cool before trying to arrange them in a circle. Once they are cooled, and before you spread on the gingerbread batter, make sure to arrange them in a nice circle pattern.

Now make the gingerbread:

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt and baking soda.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the canola oil, applesauce and brown sugar. Whisk this mixture very well to dissolve the brown sugar. Add the molasses and whisk to combine. Switch to a spatula and fold in the flour mixture in three increments. The batter will seem stiff compared to most gingerbread recipes.

Spread the batter over the pears as best you can—some of the melted butter will rise up the sides of the batter.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cake sit on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate.

Serve warm with cinnamon flavored whipped cream.