Maple Pear Upside-Down Cake Recipe (2024)

Syrup: 1/3 cup of maple syrup
2 TBS brown sugar
Cake: 1/2 cup sugar
Egg replacement: 2TBS ground flaxseed
mixed with 6Tbsp warm water

Great cake. The second time I made it I omitted the brown sugar as it was a bit too sweet with the brown sugar. I also had an accident inverting it the second time and ended up with a mess. I reconstructed it in a pie plate and threw toasted pecans all over it to cover up the rough edges and discovered that the toasted pecans were a terrific addition. It was a big hit with guests both times I served it.

Topping comes out soupy and too sweet for my tastes. Cake part is great and recipe works as advertised, but will reduce amount of maple syrup (maybe to a half cup?) and brown sugar next time around. Any guidance on adding some cornstarch to the topping mix to reduce soupiness? If you follow this recipe put a towel down under the cake plate to contain the sticky flood!

This was great! I reduced maple syrup to 1/2 cup per suggestion but I don’t think it was necessary. I also reduced the caramel for longer than suggested which I do recommend. I added cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves to the better. Lastly, and if you take anything away from this note let it be this: I left the peel on the pears because I like the flavor and color.

Made this cake for the first time today! Omitted the sugar from the syrup as suggested and it turned out perfectly! Flipped the cake with no issues and didn't find it soupy. Love this cake!

Made it exactly per the recipe and it came out perfect. Did not have the problem some here mentioned about it being too sweet. This is a wonderful dessert I would make again in a heartbeat.

Fantastic cake. My substitutions:1/2 cup maple syrup (instead of 3/4 cup)1/2 cup whole almond flour 1 cup all purpose flourDelicious served warm with vanilla iced cream!

Made this last night. In a nod to other reviewers, I reduced the brown sugar to 1/2 cup in the syrup (good decision) and also reduced the sugar in the batter. If I make it again I'd use the full amount 3/4 cup for the batterer. I was surprised there was no spice used in the recipe, so I add a touch of cardamom and ginger. Next time I'd go with a skimpy 1/4 tsp of cardamom. Definitely worth trying again -- a nice, simple dessert with modest proportions and quick to put together.

Use 1/2 to 1/3 of the granulated sugar and a bit more milk to yield a more ‘spreadable’ batter.

Five minutes was not enough for this to cool and flip on to a plate. The sauce ran everywhere!

Don't listen to the reviews that say 3/4 cup is too much maple syrup; it's delicious. I let the cake cool for closer to 15 min which may have helped with soupy-ness. 3 pears is plenty.

I added a little cardamom to the batter and it really compliments the flavors.

Cake recipe is great as is - almond extract (halve) in place of vanilla works well. Apples would be good in lieu of pears.Maple glaze is... troublesome. It soaks nicely into the cake but will boil over in the wrong 9” pan. I flipped into a pie plate to keep the glaze around the cake but there is certainly too much. When making again I’ll reduce the maple syrup by 1/4c.

Tried again with 1/2 cup syrup

The good, the bad, and the ugly:The good: the flavors were awesome.The bad: this recipe is lacking in details. Do I use salted or unsalted butter, light or dark brown sugar, 1/8" or 1/4" thick pear slices, and a round or square baking pan? No weight measurements were given.The ugly: I had a collapsed cake and a syrup tsunami.I suspect I needed to cook the syrup mixture longer to reduce the volume based on others' comments, and I should have cooked the cake longer. I'll try again.

This was divine! I see what people are talking about with the ‘soupiness’, but honestly it all gets soaked up and the cake is all the more moist because of it. I used half cup almond flour 1 cup white flour, as had been suggested by another. I also added a handful of frozen cranberries to the caramel sauce, which added a bit of tartness. I did NOT cut down on the sugar.

I made this exactly per the recipe and it came out perfect. A truly excellent recipe.

So good!! ... the pear, the maple, the luscious cake that held up to the very sweet topping. I gave it 4/5 starts because next time I make it, I'll modify it a bit. I felt that there was too much maple/sugar/butter "juice" in which the pears marinated. It overpowered everything. Will cut that in half. Then, I'd give it 5 stars. :)

I've made this many times -- it's a great recipe. Tried it with apples once, but pears are better. It's easy and delicious and always looks great.

So disappointed. I followed the recipe exactly and it collapsed onto the plate. Quite soupy. It's maple pear mess. Hope ice cream will help. It was too much time, effort and ingredients to be able to recommend this recipe.

Was really good. Cake was light and fluffy with a syrupy gooey layer of pears on top. Next time I'll add buttermilk to the batter instead of milk.

I love this recipe, I add a tiny bit of maple extract to make it more mapley. It is so good that it's quickly become one of my favorite cake recipes. Just made one for my neighbor with the maple syrup he gave me from the trees on his property.

This was fine. I disagree with reviewers who thought it was too sweet. I initially heeded their warnings and cut back to 1/2 cup maple syrup. I was craving a really gooey, brown-sugary top on the cake and this ended up falling short. The pears were the star of the show, which is great, but in more of a breakfast cake kind of way. Next time I make this (and there will be, I have a prolific pear tree in my yard) I'll go full maple and even up the brown sugar a bit for a sweet and gooey cake top.

Has anyone tried making this in a cast iron pan? It seems like it would work well although a little harder to flip.

Made this without the brown sugar and it was the perfect level of sweetness but it looked a little pale so I glazed it with a thin caramel sauce. So delicious and looked stunning! I wasn’t sure how thin to cut the pears and so I think I cut them a little too thin, would recommend maybe 1/4 inch. Mixed some candied ginger into the cake batter and it was great!

Didn’t have maple syrup but was determined to make this in some capacity—discovered that 1/2 a cup of apricot preserves gives a totally different flavor of course but still worked wonderfully. Also only used 1/2 a cup of sugar in the cake base.

Let it not go unnoticed that those who reduce or skip the brown sugar have trouble getting it out of the pan…..

I can’t be the only one who forges ahead and melted all the butter to the syrup mixture. This is the second time NYT instructions have burned me. Guys, please.On second attempt, used 1/2 c maple syrup, omitted brown sugar. Left batter sugar amnt as written. Left peels on pears. Added cardamom to cake batter. Smells amazing. Lovely use of seasonal fruit.