Bay Leaf, Pear and Black Pepper Upside-Down Cake

I absolutely love bay leaves and I would happily put them in everything if there wasn't a plethora of other tasty things that I need to find time to cook with. There is a massive tree in my parent's garden that I always harvest a stash from and this recipe is an excellent way to showcase them.

As an ingredient, bay leaves are brilliant when combined with other herbs and spices but it is usually quite difficult to impart the flavour on its own so that it is quintessentially identifiable as bay leaf. In that regard, I am prepared to call this cake recipe a triumph! I strongly infuse milk with bay leaves and use this to flavour the batter. The result is something that tastes not quite sweet and not quite savoury and completely delicious. I have a suspicion that it is rare for people to like bay leaf quite as much as I do so I have dialled down the bay flavour in this recipe, but if you do want something that smacks of bay leaf then increase the leaf quantity and time simmering the milk by 50%.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED

Saucepan

Wooden Spoon/ Heatproof Spatula

Mixing Bowls

Electric Whisk (or a balloon whisk and elbow grease)

20cm Springform Cake Tin

INGREDIENTS

For the Caramel:

8 Bay Leaves

10 Black Peppercorns, crushed in a mortar and pestle

50g Unsalted Butter

50g Golden Syrup

Pinch of Salt

1 Large Pear (I used conference, but feel free to use whatever is good)

For the Cake:

8 Bay Leaves (or 12 if you realllly like bay leaves!)

200g Milk

150g Unsalted Butter

150g Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

200g Plain Flour

20g Cornflour

2 Heaped Tsp Baking Powder (approx. 14g)

Pinch of Salt

1) In a saucepan, warm the milk and bay leaves. Simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes, then leave this to cool. Prepare a springform cake tin by greasing it with a small amount of butter.

2) In another saucepan (or just wash the one you did the milk in) melt together everything in the 'For the Caramel' ingredients list apart from the pear. Leave this to bubble on a low heat for a few minutes. While this is happening, peel, core and segment a large, firm pear. Aim for wedges at least 1cm thick so they don't turn to mush in the oven. When your caramel looks bubbly and golden, turn off the heat and allow it to cool slightly. Pick out the bay leaves and neatly arrange them at the bottom of the cake tin, then lay the pear slices over them in a pinwheel fashion. Pour the caramel over this so that it covers the bottom of the tin, then leave it to cool while you make the cake batter.

3) Preheat the oven to 180°C. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until it is pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and 1 tbsp of the flour, then keep whisking until soft and billowy. Briefly mix in 150g of the bay infused milk, then add the flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt. Mix into a smooth batter.

4) To avoid messing up the pretty arrangement at the bottom of the pan, place individual spoons of batter all over the base until it is mostly covered before adding the remainder of the batter and spreading it out to flatten. Bake this in the oven for 40 minutes. It will rise up quite spectacularly, turn golden and the caramel might start bubbling up the sides. Turn the heat off and leave it to cool in the oven for 15 minutes. Don't panic if the cake falls slightly when cooling.

5) Run a knife around the edge of the cake tin and separate the springform ring from the base. Flip the cake over and very slowly separate the tin base from the cake, being careful not to disturb the fruit arrangement on top.

I recommend serving this warm with Caramelised Pear Butter or a big scoop of ice-cream.