I was feeling like a really powerful woman there for a while. I had energy. I had spirit. And, while I still have these qualities, I only have them in very small and fleeting doses. Things are a bit altered and I suspect this is the way it will be from here on out.
I’m 39 weeks pregnant. That’s a belly full of baby. And, before last week, I was carrying a breech baby in my belly. If you’re not familiar with that term, it means my little girl was sitting upright with her head in my ribcage. I didn’t mind it so much. I thought of my womb as her cockpit. Or, as K suggested, I was sort of like a puppet she was controlling from within.
Nevertheless, I tried many tricks to turn her into the right birthing position. There was talk of a cesarean section and I was desperate. I took advice from anyone and anything about how to convince my bun that being head down was better for everyone. K burned mugwort over my toes every night. I had abdominal massages and acupuncture needles pricked into my baby toes and wrists. I turned myself upside down in yoga. I tried sifting a blanket or large scarf up and down my back. I even played classical music to her in an effort to lure her into the right spot.
After all of that, I still could feel her tiny head bobbing up and down at the very top of my belly. I resigned myself. No one around here will deliver a breech baby naturally and I was warned repeatedly of all sorts of terrible risks if I requested a trial of labor. So I didn’t argue. Instead, I pulled out the final card.
Have you heard of it? It seems sort of medieval in some respects, I’m sure. It is where a doctor turns your baby from the outside using, from what I can tell, sheer force, weight, and will.
We went for it and, although it was probably one of the weirdest moments of my life, it was also one of the most remarkable. I went to a special place in my mind where I relaxed as the man in the white coat loomed over me using all of his weight and effort to scoot my little girl’s bum up the side of my belly.
And, lo and behold, it worked on the first try. In just about 30 seconds, she was head down with her little feet in my ribs.
I cried. Of course.
Now, we are ready for the little bun to arrive and she can do so on her own terms. I have to admit, however, I’m ready. Her new position causes a great deal of pressure and it’s not something I care to live with for much longer. As such, I am talking to her daily about how wonderful it is here on the outside. I am told I can be quite convincing. I’ll let you know.
In the meantime, I’m keeping busy. I’m working on writing and cooking a lot. Sweet things are on the menu here as we really enter the thick of the holiday season. And, what could be more appropriate to share with all of you than an upside down cake with the flavor of fresh pears and cinnamon? I can’t think of anything. The cake is moist and airy. The Bosc pears are sweet, but not too sweet. Best of all, this upside down cake is super easy to pull together.
Today, we celebrate a successfully spun baby girl who will feast on sweet pear upside down cake spiked with cinnamon. I think it’s perfect for her impending holiday arrival. Enjoy.
Pear Upside Down Cake
11 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup maple syrup (substitute agave syrup)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 Bosc pears, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a small pan over medium heat; add maple syrup and brown sugar and cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook for another 2 minutes; remove from heat and set aside. When mixture has cooled a bit, pour it into a 9-inch baking pan and arrange pear slices in an overlapping circle on top (or whatever works with your size of slices).
With a handheld or standing mixer, beat remaining 8 tablespoons butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, one egg at a time, continuing to mix until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture in three batches, alternating with milk; do not over-mix. Carefully spread batter over pears, using a spatula to make sure it is evenly distributed. Bake until top of cake is golden brown and edges begin to pull away from sides of pan, about 45 to 50 minutes; a toothpick inserted into center should come out clean. Let cake cool for 5 minutes.
Run a knife around edge of pan; put a plate on top of cake and carefully flip it so plate is on bottom and pan is on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Note: I cooked this in a spring form pan, which makes it easy to remove from the pan. If you’d like, you can watch the video for a brief demonstration.
Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman
51 Comments
That’s awesome that version therapy worked. And the cake looks beautiful!
Ahhhh! This is the perfect recipe to accompany a successfully spun baby! I like how the wonderful cramel glaze that results. I’ll keep sending you good thoughts for an easy delivery!
Robin, I am so happy your little girl finally turned – what a relief! The pear upside down cake sounds absolutely incredible. You will be in my thoughts over the next weeks – I wish you all the very best and am so excited for you!!
This pear upside-down cake, undoubtedly delicious, is very similar to the one I made several weeks ago. I like the maple syrup — a good friend to pears. Very happy to hear your little girl has flip-flopped and no C-section is in your future. I was a C-section baby after all, and look how I’ve turned out….! Serious though, you would’ve done marvelously either way, but as this is medically preferred, good grace is truly in your corner now.
Cheers and a safe, happy Christmas,
*Heather*
oh man, just saw this and my mouth is now watering. that looks super good and gooey. glad baby girl flipped over nicely too!
Good gracious, lady. You’re amazing! Posting THIS a week before you’re set to give birth, exploring all kinds of options to get your little bun to turn and finding one that worked, even being able to get a video together for us. !?! Looking forward to hearing your good news very soon!
Excellent! I had a breech also, but there was no budging him. He’s nearly six, and still stubborn as all get-out. And he still sees the world from an entirely different angle. I love him for that, head over heels.
I love the play on the title and baby, too
Come on, little girl — we’re all waiting to say hello!
happy that your little girl finally turned
The upside down cake looks wonderful.
I love everything your write!
Glad the only thing upside down now is your cake.
Thanks for the video! First of all-what a cute outfit! And hooray for the therapy!
And all I could do was sit and watch as you lifted the pan off the cake-and when I caught a view of all the twirly steam and those magnificent pears?!?
Swoon!
I cannot wait to bake this up…and congratulate you on the sweet baby girl, of course.
i’m so glad it worked. of course your big heart wept out loud! i’m glad. it’s good practice because new found amazing joy is a-coming. thanks for sharing so much of you, your sweet spirit, baby stories + food love in this space. it is a joy for me as well.
I’m so glad your little bun turned the right way round! Such great news
This upside down cake (how fitting!) looks amazing and the video made me want it even more! Stomach is now growling…must go make the cake! xoxoxo e
Such a fitting cake! I was already sold on this cake before the video, but seeing the warm, sweet pears as the pan got lifted off….this just jumped to the top of my baking queue.
I may just cry, too. How wonderful for you! It’s nice that she’s already being cooperative
Love the video and the gorgeous caramel that drips from the pan. Sending hugs and prayers for a successful delivery!
So glad it worked for you, I was at the hospital last Saturday, they tried twice to turn my baby and failed. Unfortunately it is a C section now. Probably already next week. Take care and wishing you smooth and good birth.
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Oh my. You poor thing. Glad to hear everything worked out but how frightening! Of course, you picked the most appropriate “upside down” dessert. It does look delicious. Glad you’re ok!
Good luck to you and your baby girl. Your touching story got me reminiscing about my own girl who was born mid-December 7 years ago…So sweet to be all cozy for winter with a little bambina.
Wishing you the best,
E
P.S. Your pear cake looks delish:)
So glad Miss Bun is in the best position for her journey, you can tell her, she was promoted to “head” of the class, just in time to graduate! You and K have such a remarkable journey to start, she however is in charge of the date. I am excited for you, three. And yes the cake looks just heavenly.
I love upside down cakes and this one looks fabulous!
Cheers,
Rosa
Robin! I’m so glad that it all worked out for you. I know so many people who did not have success with that method and also had lots of pain. I’m so glad she turned for you!
happy she is in the right position now and that you are able to have a natural birth. hope all goes well! looking forward to hearing news!
this cake looks wonderful. I really like pineapple upside down cake, so I am sure I would really like this.
best to you, Robin!
Oh I can’t wait for her to get here!!
Oh, Robin. Incredible. It is such a blessing when our bodies do right by us. I hope that your upcoming labor is everything you want it to be.
It is always fun to be able to test brand new dishes. You can certainly uncover the weirdest recipes on the web but man can you learn to cook some awesome stuff with the net. Thank you!
Oh I’m SO glad to hear it worked! I found one midwife here who will deliver breech babies – but only sometimes and rarely in 1st time moms. I have to wonder what women did prior to c-sections? Breech is so common! Anyway, so, so glad for you and your little girl and wishing you comfort in your final weeks of pregnancy!
I’m so glad your sweet girl decided to cooperate.
Women in my family have had to use Version Therapy as well – and have been so thankful! Thanks also for this yummy recipe – that caramel goodness looks amazing.
Yeesh, that’s kind of a scary description. What a brave momma! I’m glad it worked for you. Best of luck in the final stretch!
And what a great life she’ll have with you making such delicious treats for her.
Congrats on getting her turned around! Best of luck to you.
Wow I’m so glad that worked for you and that you were open to something a bit different. Your darling girl is going to be so happy with such lovely and loving parents. I can’t believe you are still baking, though! I would surely be making everyone wait on me by this far in the pregnancy ;p. Upside-down cakes are delicious, and it’s about time I went beyond pineapple.
I’ve heard external version really hurts. A lot. I hope it wasn’t too uncomfortable for you, but who cares, because that is such an awesome outcome!
Impressive that pear tart. Can not resist delicious.
Such a gorgeous dessert!
You are one tough cookie (or I’m a really crumbly one) because the thought of maneuvering a baby from the outside scares the daylights out of me! To be honest, though, I live my life pretending I don’t have insides. It just makes things easier. I’m impressed with your ability to still be in your kitchen, baking, using spring form pans, and making things delicious (like you always do). Best wishes for the holidays and the arrival of your little bun!
Before i go into how amazing your cake looks i have to say – wow! I have heard of doctors doing this but never knew anyone who had it done. Sounds very intense. Also good for you for going natural. I have friends that have had both births. I don’t deal well with pain so i don’t think i could do it. Now back to the cake, that first picture makes me drool.
I love the video and these photos are stunning. You are almost there!!
Amazing story, and excellent story and recipe pairing.
These cake looks divine!!!! the baby will be so happy having a great baker as a mom!!!!
!
What a touching and sweet post. Love the pics and the recipe but really love your story…you constantly amaze me and I’m sure you are going to have one amazing little baby…
Upside down baby – upside down cake, I love it. I was a breech baby too, and I even came out feet first. My Mom was not happy but I didn’t do it on purpose! Good luck and best wishes for the big day!
wow robin! way to go! that’s having guts! i’m really glad baby girl is on the right position now! my nephew is too, i can feel his little feet on my sis belly, even see bumps coming up when he kicks, it’s so crazy and amazing… i love the cake! we have a bunch of pears around and i’ve never made an upside down cake of any kind, i think it’s time for it!
I actually love apple pie more than anything else, but this recipe might have changed my mind! I’ll make this soon. Thanks for sharing!
It’s great that version worked for you! I had a cousin whose first baby was breech, and when the doctors told her that she would probably need a caesarean, she all but waddled out of the office. Everything went fine for all parties though.
I love the looks of your pear upside down cake. I made a pear upside down brownie with some success, I’m going to have to try your cake out!
That is amazing, Robin! I’m so glad she’s in position. See?! You got what you wanted. That’s nice…I’m really happy for you. Oh, and I hope the big event is as quick and easy as the repositioning.
Ooh, I almost forgot about the pear cake. I think that means your a good writer (smile). Most people can’t take their eyes away from a picture of delicious upside down pear cake for reading;-) Yum!
You’re sooooo close!! And so happy that procedure worked for you.
Beautiful cake, too.
[K]
Is it a coincidence that your video is 30 seconds long and that you said the inversion took about 30 seconds?
Oh my, the associations with this post are lovely and powerful.
Hi Robin,
just tried this out tonight way down here in New zealand..I tried to stay as true to the recipe as I could…It turned out sort of okay but I think I may need some help…I set the oven to 180 ( thats degrees C) on normal ( not fan bake) I left it for around 50 minutes as you suggested any longer and it probably would have burned on the top. the top sponge was clean to a tooth pick.
After inverting the cake I noticed there was quite a bit of uncooked batter that had oozed down in between the pear slices..not sure why it was uncooked….also your sponge topping looks a lot fluffier with more air…just wondering what type of flour you used and whether it perhaps has more gluten in it than ours….apart from that after carefully disecting out the uncooked batter everyone loved the flavour and texture….it is certainly excellent in that regard…I just need to refine the technique so any tips from anyone on board here would be gratefully recieved….keep up the fine work Best Steve
Hi Steve,
As far as the flour is concerned, I always used unbleached all-purpose flour. I’m not picky about the brand so I don’t know the gluten content. I do know, however, that you can substitute cake flour or sift the flour to keep it light. This would most likely help. Also, use pears that are ripe, but not overripe. The more ripe the pear, the more liquid it will produce and that liquid will seep into the batter making it more difficult to cook.
Thanks so much for cooking and visiting all the way from lovely New Zealand. That’s great to hear! I’m not sure I have all the answers to your questions, but I will certainly try to help. Ovens often run at different temperatures. So, often when I’m testing out a new recipe, I keep testing from 10 minutes before the suggest time to 10 minutes following. However, it sounds like your cake passed the toothpick test
I hope that helps!
xo
Robin
Hi Robin
Thanks for your prompt reply..I think I may have found out what’s wrong..after my wife read your reply she asked me the same question…did I sift the flour ?…well I’m not an expert on baking matters so I’ve just taken my first basic in baking!…that’ll fluff up the topping just nicely…and I’ll also try fan baked as I’ve been told by a friend who lived in the States for many years that fan bake ovens are pretty much standard in most kitchens and wherever you read a recipe the temps are for fan baked ovens…Also I’ll take it off a tray…it was just as lifted the spring form tin with my masterpiece into the oven I noticed it was dripping syrup. Our spring form tins do not have the deep lip around the bottom edge as yours has in the video and the syrup was dripping out of ther bottom edge so I placed the tin on some baking paper on a tray. My wife tells me that would seriously upset the cooking temp on the bottom of the cake so next time I’ll seal the tin with a layer of baking paper before I clamp down the spring sides onto the base and place it on a rack…I’ll report back after the next attempt
All the best
Steve
Yum! I’m making this tonight!
Hi, So glad for you that you were able to have your baby turned before giving birth. It’s an amazing time in a women’s life, enjoy the experience. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe for upside down pear cake, I am going to make it this afternoon. We had a 3 lb bag of pears in our co-op box and this recipe will be perfect to use them up. Thanks again and Good Luck with the delivery. Good health to you and your new daughter