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I love a new recipe and this is one I developed in December for a Pear Spice cake.
Yesterday I decided I’d make the cake so I could properly photograph it and finally post the recipe. Of course, I’d forgotten I had an appointment I’d have to run to as soon as the cake came out of the oven.
I made a quick mention to my husband “yes we can have it for goûter, but please don’t touch it before I get back!” I forgot to spread that message far and wide.
Oops.
When I got back nearly half the cake was gone, this morning, the cake IS gone. This isn’t the first time I have tried to photograph it. It just gets eaten too quickly. So in the spirit of getting this out to you, I’m just going to make do with a few unstyled images, messy caramel on the tray and all!
What I love about this cake is that it’s as much fruit as it is cake. I’m not known for having a sweet tooth so this is perfect for me. The spiced sugar tastes like winter and a dusting of snow. The pears melt in your mouth and if they’re really juicy, you’ll even get a little caramel around the rim. The ginger in the cake brings a bit of heat but not enough to offend even the littlest eaters.
We love this cake and I hope you will too! If you make it, send me your beautiful photos! I’d love to tell you we have it with tea or coffee but really, everyone sneaks it all day long. It’s a go-to afternoon snack, it’s dessert and it’s even breakfast the next morning. You should definitely try it with some mulled wine to make it even more wintery.
Find my recipes for White Mulled Wine or the more traditional Red Mulled Wine if you need them.
Pear Spice Cake
Ingredients
Winter Spice Sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar (50g)
- 1/4 tsp cardamon
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Cake Base
- 1 1/2 cups Flour (200g)
- 1/4 cup sugar (50g)
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 tsp powdered ginger
- 1/4 cup butter (57g)
- 2 lemons, zest
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt (125g)
- 1 egg, beaten
Topping
- 5 pears
Instructions
- Combine sugar, cardamon and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside
- Preheat your oven to 165C / 325F
- In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and ginger
- Cut cold butter into dry ingredients until you get a nice crumbly mixture.
- In a small bowl combine lemon zest, 2tsp lemon juice (place the extra juice of one lemon in a large bowl for your pears later to prevent browning), yogurt and egg before adding it to the other ingredients. This will create a very soft sticky dough
- Line a 22cm (8.5") springform pan with parchment. I stick it to the pan with a little streak of cold butter so it isn't moving around on me and place it inside a jellyroll sheet in case of caramel, depending on how ripe and juicy your pears are.
- Press the dough evenly along the bottom of the pan wetting your fingers with water to keep from sticking to the dough.
- Take your sugar mix and give a light coating on top of the dough. Ensuring the majority will be left to top your pears.
- Peel 5 pears cutting them in half and removing the core placing them in your large bowl with lemon juice to keep them looking great as you go.
- Slice your halves lengthwise into about a half centimeter slices (or 1/4 inch) and transfer to the top of your cake with the tops facing inward and keeping them as close together as possible. Depending on the size of your pears you may have space in the middle to place one last half and any extra I chop into little bits and places wherever I see cake poking through just to ensure every bite is LOADED with fruit.
- Dust your pears with the remaining spiced sugar and pop in your preheated oven for 1 hour.
