BEAN DAY - Northarvest Bean Growers Association

Bean
Recipes
From
Lynne
Spice up new year with
Spicy Pear Upside-
Down Cake
By Lynne Bigwood
Northarvest Home Economist
This recipe is based on a Gingerbread Cake recipe
from Pampered Chef. That recipe uses a 15-ounce
can of pumpkin, 1/3 cup
molasses, 3 eggs, 2 tablespoons
of their cinnamon spice blend and
a german chocolate cake mix.
The baking instructions use their
stoneware pans, bundt or 9 x 13
rectangular baker, in the
microwave or conventional oven.
I added the pears on the bottom.
I found a recipe for
Lynne Bigwood,
Gingerbread Upside Down Cake
many years ago in the Fannie
Farmer cookbook. I make that cake in the fall when
pears are in season, plentiful and cheap. This recipe
looked like it would work with that concept. I didn’t like
the chocolate flavor with the added spice, but my
guests thought the cake was good. I prefer spice cake
for the base. I did try a gingerbread mix , also. The
gingerbread mix doesn’t require eggs and didn’t work
as well as the standard cake mix.
Quite a few bean growers have cookie and dessert
recipes that use pureed beans. Kaylin Cherry at
www.realfood4realpeople.com gives instructions for
using pureed beans as a fat substitute in baked products
in place of applesauce or other fruit replacement/
fat substitutes. She recommends using a 1 to 1 ratio:
substitute exactly the same amount of bean puree for
the solid fat the recipe requests. Kaylin suggests overcooking
a pound of beans with a minimum of added
water and no oil or salt, then freezing 1/2 cup portions
of bean puree to use later. I substituted a can of
Page 36 NORTHARVEST BEAN GROWER January-February 2001
pureed pinto beans instead of the pumpkin.
The bean cake is very similar to the original
Pampered Chef pumpkin cake.
Fresh pears do need to be ripe; bartletts turn from
green and hard to yellow and soft when they are ripe.
Baking unripe pears doesn’t tenderize them; they are
still hard when the cake is done. Use a vegetable
peeler to peel fresh a pear, cut it in half and use the
small end of a melon baller to remove the stem and
seeds. The original Fanny Farmer recipe used 1/4 cup
of melted butter and 1/3 cup of brown sugar stirred
together and spread in the bottom of an 8 x 8 pan, a
pear layer over that and scratch gingerbread batter on
top. It makes a rich topping baked with the fruit and
spicy gingerbread. (Actually, a variation of the traditional
pineapple upside-down cake.) I cook by the cardiac-diet
rules, so I just use brown sugar in the bottom
and leave out the butter. It works well.
Vanilla ice cream or whipped topping is a popular
finishing touch. A Better Homes and Gardens recipe
suggests topping their Ginger-Pear Cake with one 8ounce
carton of low-fat vanilla yogurt combined with 1
teaspoon of finely chopped crystallized ginger. A decorating
tube filled with topping will make the
garnish/topping look fancier than just a dollop.
(Crystallized ginger is available in the spice section of
Spicy Pear Upside-Down Cake
12 - 15 servings
Ingredients
4 tablespoons brown sugar
6 ripe pears peeled and cored
or canned, drained pears
1 15.5-ounce can pinto beans
1/3 cup molasses
3 eggs (or 3/4 cup egg substitute)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 package (18.25-ounce) spice cake mix
Vanilla ice cream or whipped topping or vanilla yogurt
with 1 teaspoon finely chopped crystallized ginger
Method:
Brush large 9 x 13 inch pan with vegetable oil (or
large bundt pan—use only 3 pears).
Sprinkle brown sugar in bottom of baking pan. Slice
each pear into 8 pieces and place in pan.
Drain pinto beans, reserving liquid. Puree beans in
processor, blender or mash with enough bean liquid to
make a smooth, thick mixture. In a large mixing bowl,
combine pureed beans, molasses and eggs. Add cinnamon,
ginger and cake mix. Mix thoroughly.
Pour cake batter over pears, smooth top to cover
pears evenly. Bake 30 - 45 minutes at 350 degrees F.,
until a toothpick inserted down to the pears comes out
clean, top of cake will be slightly moist. Let stand 10 minutes.
Loosen edges and invert on a serving platter.
Serve with topping, if desired. Refrigerate leftovers.