Dessert: Pear Upside-Down Cake

This dessert comes to us from Alyssa Lindner, formerly pastry chef at Remi, a New York City restaurant. Alyssa says a Teflon-coated cake pan will work just as well as the springform pan we used. The surprise ingredient is stone-ground cornmeal in the cake

Ingredients

1 3/4 c. sugar
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Bartlett pears
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. cornmeal
1 tbsp. cornmeal
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
4 large egg yolks

Instructions

Make the caramel: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place 1 cup of sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar liquefies and becomes amber in color. Stir in 2 tablespoons butter and pour the caramel into an 8-inch springform cake pan, taking care to coat the pan bottom evenly. Arrange the pear pieces in a single layer on top of the caramel and set aside.