Gluten Free Vegan Pear Upside Down Cake (xanthan free, soy free, sugar free)

 So I got onto a bit of a baking spree yesterday- figured I’d see what I could do with the vanilla scone recipe to make it an upside down cake…  I rather like it!  I toned down the sweetness,  tossed in some sliced ripe pears and ground cloves (uh… I meant to use cinnamon. ah well), and baked in mini springform pans.  Delicious.  I still found them a tad on the sweet side, but they were alot of fun.  So, here you go!  A few notes before we get started:

NUT FREE: I have a suggestion for replacing the coconut and almond flours, but, haven’t tried it so it would be an experiment: Remove the coconut flour and almond flour, and add: 1 tbsp oil (I like grapeseed, its light), 1 additional tbsp tapioca starch, plus 1/3 cup beans,  1/4 cup quinoa flakes (roast the flakes at 250 for at least 40 min to remove the grassy taste first).  Or, instead of the quinoa you could try 1/4 cup of your preferred seed meal.  It is a suggestion, I haven’t tried it, but if you do, please let me know how it works out.

FLAVOURS: A hint of orange zest with the pears would perk them up or a couple frozen cranberries or even a couple cherries.  I’d even put a wee pinch of salt to contrast the sweetness, and perhaps sprinkle some agar agar powder or unflavoured gelatin or tapioca or arrowroot starch to help hold them together.   I’d also swirl in some cinnamon to the cake part.

I was just thinking… oh man… can you imagine this with strawberries and rhubarb baked in it instead  of doing an upside down cake? Or with a streusal top of walnuts and coconut sugar to be a kind of coffee cake? Or  with blueberries and a hint of lemon zest?  This is going to be a terrific summer ;)

Okokok on with the show, here we go:

Pear Upside Down Cake

Ingredients

Wet

• 1 cup cooked white beans
• 3/4 cup non dairy milk
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp almond extract
• 1tbsp  apple cider vinegar
• 1tbsp agar agar powder (non vegan: use unflavoured gelatin)
• 1/4 cup agave syrup
• 1/8 tsp stevia  

 Dry

• 1/3 cup white rice flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca starch
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Topping

• 5-6 very ripe brown pears
• cinnamon or cloves
• coconut sugar (or brown sugar)

Directions

1. Mix the wet ingredients in a blender, blend thoroughly.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and sift them.
3. Add the wet to the dry and mix together.
4. Line the bottom of an 8″ cake pan or a springform pan.  Slice the pears thinly and place on a layer at the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle on the cinnamon or cloves, then generously sprinkle with coconut sugar.  I repeated this layer because I had too many pears!
5. Spoon the cake batter over top the pears and smooth it out as best you can.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 min or until the top is golden.
6. Turn out onto your plate. There you go!