Maple Pear Upside-Down Cake

This cake is mind-meltingly good. It's Mark Bittman's take on the upside-down cake, made with pears (of course). It is almost, almost, too sweet for me, but not quite - and the mixture of sponge, baked pears and the sauce of butter, brown sugar and maple syrup hits all sorts of buttons in the lower portions of my brain - a little bit of fat, a hit of sugar, a strong note of maple. And the best part - there's still 3/4 of a cake left!