Upside-down quince cake

The humble quince...looks like a cross between a pear and an apple. And not nice to eat raw.

 

Photo by Sarah Ryan

But make up a nice vanilla bean sugar syrup and poach it for a few hours...and watch it change to a glorious jewel-like ruby pink-red colour.

 

                                    Photo by Sarah Ryan                                          Photo by Sarah Ryan
I was making an upside down cake so I sprinkled some brown sugar on the base and lined the tin with the sliced poached quince.
The cake batter had lots of butter and almond meal, based on a favourite recipe of mine: Ian Parmenter's Pear and Almond cake (my adaptation).

 

                                     Photo by Sarah Ryan                                          Photo by Sarah Ryan
After spooning the batter on, smoothing it out and baking, it was just a matter of turning it out and tucking in.

Photo by Sarah Ryan

You might be able to tell, we'd already started on it when I remembered to take the photo! 

Yep, I'm quazy for quince!