Pear Spice Cakes with Creamy Caramel Sauce

These pear spice cakes were the result of some leftover heavy cream and an overripe pear. They're sort of in between a muffin and a cupcake. The method, texture, and whole wheat pastry flour is more on the muffin-y side, but the richness from the heavy cream and the caramel sauce push these firmly into the dessert category. Whatever you call them, these little cakes are addictive and delicious!

Pear Spice Cakes with Creamy Caramel Sauce
Makes 12-15

1 cup heavy cream
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
4 T vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 large pear, peeled and cut into small chunks (about 1 cup)
Creamy Caramel Sauce (recipe at the very bottom of this post)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a muffin tin.
2. Whisk together the cream and lemon juice, and set aside while you prepare the other ingredients. (It will curdle--this is what you want.)
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. In a medium bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and egg. Whisk in the oil and vanilla until no lumps remain.
4. Add the flour and cream mixtures in alternating additions, beginning and ending with the flour (flour-cream-flour-cream-flour). Mix each addition only until it is just incorporated, being careful not to overmix.
5. Gently fold in the pears.
6. Divide the batter among the muffin cups.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.