One of the recipes I mentioned as my favorite of 2015 was the Pear-Walnut Upside-Down Cake from the Cook's Illustrated January/February 2016 issue (job perk: I got to try it several times during development and had access to the recipe way before it was on the newsstand). I love pears and the caramelized upside-down element of this particular cake is really gorgeous. Recently, I saw a recipe up on the superstylish lifestyle blog A Cup of Jo for a Pear and Nutella tart that sounded amazing but I'm not a huge fan of puff pastry, so I thought I'd take some of the flavor inspiration from that tart and use them to make a new variation on the upside-down cake recipe. Instead of using walnuts in the cake, I used toasted hazelnuts, and I added dark chocolate to the upside-down topping and a swirl of chocolate-hazelnut spread ("Nutella," although what I had on hand was Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter and as neither of those #brands sponsors this blog, I make no definitive recommendation). The result was a really lovely cake. It's texturally interesting because of the chopped hazelnuts and caramel layer, and it's also extremely flavorful, between the nutty cake, bittersweet chocolate, and syrupy pears. There's also a dark, cozy quality to the overall confection that makes it a good choice for a cold, wintery weekend. Enjoy!