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Upside Down Pear Cake

- MAKES
- 2 cakes, 6 to 8 servings each
- COOK TIME
- 30 Min
Bake up a little bit of fall flavor with our recipe for Upside Down Pear Cake. This cake is beautiful enough to serve for any special occasion, and easy enough to make when you've got cravings for fall favorites. It's got an ooey-gooey and crunchy topping that's unbelievably good!
What You'll Need
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted
- 2 (15.4-ounce) cans pear slices, drained
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 (16.5-ounce) package spice cake mix
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
What to Do
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Evenly sprinkle brown sugar over bottom of two 8-inch round cake pans, and pour butter evenly over brown sugar.
- In each pan, arrange pear slices in a single layer over brown sugar and sprinkle with walnuts.
- In a large bowl, combine cake mix, water, oil, and eggs; beat until well combined. Evenly divide batter between the pans.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of each comes out clean. Let cakes stand 5 minutes.
- Loosen gently with a knife and invert onto 2 platters. Serve warm, or allow to cool completely before serving.
Notes
If you love desserts that use cake-mix as a shortcut, check out our collection of To-Die-For Recipes with Cake Mix!
sfwilliams100 9157444
Oct 04, 2017
Was very Good! I make mine with gingerbread - that's very good also!
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Heidi Algoma Wi
Nov 24, 2016
Easy recipe to follow. Delicious!
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ddstabile 5718108
Nov 01, 2016
I do not have round cake pans can this be put in a 9X13 pan
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Test Kitchen Team
Nov 02, 2016
Hi there! While the Test Kitchen has not made this recipe this way before, we believe that you can make this recipe in a 9x13 baking dish. We recommend baking in a 350 degrees F oven for 20-28 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Enjoy!
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nanaodea7 3572724
Nov 01, 2016
Can I use fresh pears instead of canned?
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Test Kitchen Team
Nov 02, 2016
Hi there! While the Test Kitchen has not made this recipe with fresh pears, we do believe, as Howard suggested, that you can use them in place of the canned pears in this recipe. We recommend using a very ripe pear that is soft in order to make this Upside Down Pear Cake as delicious as it was when we made it for the first time. Enjoy!
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jthelander1231
Jan 18, 2016
Pear and walnuts? Love this combination!
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naquilter3 3903694
Nov 26, 2015
My two round cake pans have a bottom one can take out. Would this work for this recipe or not?
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Test Kitchen Team
Nov 30, 2015
We do not recommend using pans with bottoms that can come out as sugar butter have to go at the bottom of the pan, and will seep out and make a mess in your oven. Also, in this recipe, we invert the pan, so that the pears end up on top.
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jadjormoe
Oct 18, 2015
My wife made this today and it was pretty good. I want her to make it again, but I told her I think it would be a lot better with a white cake mix instead. The spice cake mix over powered the pears. Wish I wouldn't have read these reviews because I'm wanting her to make the apple version and the peach one also.
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antiquewoodboat 4016874
Oct 07, 2015
Could fresh apples be used in place of the canned pears?
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Test Kitchen Team
Oct 08, 2015
Hello! - You can use fresh apples instead of canned pears, but be sure to peel and slice the apples thinly. We also have an Upside Down Apple Pie you might want to check out! - Enjoy!
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whosyournana 9622226
Sep 13, 2015
my mom made this many years using peaches and spice cake mix. always one of my favorite with whipped cream and iced tea. I really like pears, so I think this will become a NEW favorite.......sure to be a 5 star dessert. and
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