Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine, melted
  • 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 2 cups thinly sliced peeled red pear (about 1 1/2 small pears)
  • 1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, softened
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 medium)
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

Method

  • Coat bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan with melted butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar, and arrange pear slices over sugar in an overlapping pattern.
  • Beat 1/4 cup butter at medium speed of an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add 2/3 cup granulated sugar, beating well. Add egg and banana, beating well.
  • Combine flour, soda, and salt in a small bowl; add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix at low speed after each addition until blended. Spoon batter over pear slices.
  • Bake at 350° for 30 to 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Loosen cake from sides of pan with a narrow metal spatula and invert onto a cake plate. Serve warm.