Gingerbread Pear Skillet Cake
Molasses gingerbread baked over brown-sugar pears in a dutch oven, at camp.
- calories
- 390
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 87
- protein
- 4 g
- serves
- 10, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 60 min
- water
- 120 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Firm pears | 3 medium | cored, cut into eighths; underripe travels better than ripe |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 3 tbsp | keeps a few days out of a cooler; ghee if it is hot |
| Brown sugar | 1/3 cup | |
| Molasses | 1/2 cup | decant into a screw-top bottle |
| Vegetable or canola oil | 1/3 cup | |
| Boiling water | 1/2 cup | |
| All-purpose flour | 1 1/2 cups | |
| Baking soda | 1 tsp | |
| Ground ginger | 1 tsp | dried, standing in for the fresh grated ginger |
| Cinnamon | 1/2 tsp | |
| Ground cloves | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Dried lemon peel | 1 tsp | or skip it; a lemon rides fine in a car |
Method
- Build a bed of coals and let the flames die down. You want steady heat, not fire.
- Melt the butter in a 10-inch dutch oven over a few coals. Stir in the brown sugar until it goes glossy.
- Lay the pear slices in the sugar in one overlapping layer. Pull the pot off the heat.
- In a bag or bowl, whisk the molasses and oil into 1/2 cup of just-boiled water. Add the premixed flour, soda, and spices. Stir only until the streaks disappear.
- Pour the batter over the pears and level it. Lid on.
- Set the oven on about 8 coals and put 16 on the lid. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, turning the pot and lid a quarter turn every 10 minutes so it does not scorch on one side.
- Check with a twig or knife in the center. Clean means done.
- Rest 5 minutes, then invert onto a plate or board while it is still hot. Wait longer and the pears weld themselves to the pot.
This is the classic skillet upside-down cake moved outdoors with two swaps. Fresh grated ginger becomes ground ginger, which is stronger by volume and does not go slimy in a food bin. Fresh lemon zest becomes dried peel. Everything else already keeps: molasses, oil, flour, and sugar are all shelf-stable, and the butter survives a weekend out of a cooler.
The boiling water is not optional. It thins the molasses so it disperses, and it wakes up the baking soda against the molasses acid before the pot ever sees heat, which is the only lift this batter gets. Coal placement matters more than time: heavy on the lid, light underneath, or the pear layer burns before the crumb sets.
Packing
Flour, soda, spices, salt, and lemon peel go in one zip bag at home; label it. Molasses and oil in leakproof bottles. Butter and brown sugar together in a second bag. Pears travel loose in the food bin, not the pack.
Variations
- Apples work if pears are soft or expensive. Firm ones only.
- A splash of bourbon in the water gives the crumb a darker edge.
- No dutch oven: use a covered skillet on a grill grate over low coals and expect a paler top.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/gingerbread-pear-upside-down-skillet-cake