Apple Pear Upside-Down Cake success!

I'm in grad school, and I work full time, and I complain about both a lot, but school just ended for me last week for the semester, and I went baking crazy. I thought it would be a good time to actually make the DOTMC recipes, since every person I know seems to be having a Christmas party and they all decide without my input that I'll be bringing something homemade.

Well, my mom was no exception. She had one of those ladies wearing pearls and expensive Christmas sweaters jams, and I thought an apple pear upside-down cake would be a perfect choice and would mask the fact that I wasn't wearing a festive rhinestone "reindeer leaping" brooch. So I made Molly's recipe! It's pictured below on the appropriate gold-edged holiday plate that I was amazed my roommate owned!



I couldn't get a great picture.

I didn't have an oven-proof skillet that was big enough, and both my bundt and tube pans were nowhere to be found, probably lent to someone. So I used this great stoneware deep dish pie plate that I have, and it worked great! It was the absolute perfect size. When I poured in the batter over the fruit, it literally came up to the very edge of the pie plate. It turned out easily, fell apart a little, but still looked good.

Here's where I become a jerk. I never actually got to eat any of the cake. The sweater ladies devoured it with graceful aplomb and oohed and ahhed so much that I doubt it was just out of politeness. It smelled delicious though and my house still smells good the day after.

Tip that I found out - both the pan for the cake and the pan that I used to cook the fruit and sugar needed to be soaked for a few hours before I could wash them, as the sugar hardens almost instantly upon cooling. But after they sat there in soapy water, washing them took two seconds.

I'm making Nicole's pumpkin cheesecake for my family's Christmas dinner, but even though I can't actually attend said dinner, I'll make sure I nab a piece before I send it along, this time.