Pear Honey and Almond Upside Down Sponge

Arthur was hankering for an upside down pudding the other night, and while I know what he really wanted was a syrup sponge I fancied something a little fruitier so I put this together.  I think he was pleasantly surprised, I certainly enjoyed it.

Pear, honey and almond upside down sponge

Ingredients

For the sponge
* 75g unsalted butter
* 75g margarine
* 75g cinnamon sugar
* 75g vanilla sugar (you could use regular caster sugar for both of these and add a little of the flavours)
* 2 eggs
* 75g self raising flour
* 75g ground almonds

For the syrup
* 1 tin pear halves in light syrup
* 25g butter
* 4tbsp honey
* 1tsp cinnamon
* 1tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Cream the butter, margarine and two sugars together until fluffy.
2. Beat in eggs one at a time with a small spoon of the flour.
3. Fold in remaining flour and ground almonds until fully combined.
4. Empty contents of tin into saucepan, add butter, honey, cinnamon and vanilla.  
5. Heat on low stirring until combined then bring to boil for a few minutes to slightly reduce.
6. Pour syrup and pears into the bottom of an oven-proof dish, add cake mixture ontop.  The syrup is very runny at this point and the cake mix rather think so it needs to be added in small spoons to ensure it doesn't sink completely, there will be seepage but this is okay!
7. Cover dish with lid or tin foil and bake in preheated oven at Gas mark 4 for around 25-35 minutes until the sponge is completely cooked (a knife comes out clean).  If you like you can remove the lid for the last 5-10 minutes to brown the top of the cake, or leave it on to keep the top pale.

Serve warm with cream for true indulgence.