Spiced Caramelized Pear Skillet Cake

In soc.motss, in message-ID <slrna0o4r8.m6v.scott@frogger.telerama.com>, Scott Safier wrote:

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (448.16K). Liberally coat the inside of a 10-inch cast-iron skillet with nonstick cooking spray.
Place .75 C of the sugar and the water in a 1.5-2 Quart saucepan and stir until well blended. Set over medium heat and bring to a boil without stirring. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, without stirring, until the syrup turns just caramel (10-15 min). Working quickly, remove the saucepan from the heat and immediately poor the caramelized syrup into the prepared skillet. Coat the bottom and sides of skillet and place skillet on baking sheet.
Peel the pears and cut into .5 in cubes. As you cut the pears, gently toss them with the lemon juice in a small bowl until well blended and well coated. Reserve.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a medium bowl. Reserve.
Place the egg yolks and .5 C sugar in a bowl. Beat until disolved (2 minutes with electric mixer). Beat in butter, milk and vanilla until well blended. Add the dry ingredients and mix well.
Strain the pears and gently stir into batter. What you want to do here is coat the pears with the batter without breaking the pears. There isn't a whole hell of a lot of batter, and there are a lot of pear pieces so be patient and gentle.
Ladle the batter over the caramelized skillet and smooth the surface. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted 1 inch from the center comes out almost clean (a few moist crumbs clinging to it).

Serve with fresh homemade vanilla ice cream.

Adapted from Cooking in Cast Iron.