Pear cake is a sweet way to use ripe pears.
Pears are a permanent fixture in our house. One of the cheaper fruit to be found most of the year round, they are a great snack. And there’s good reason for this.
The humble pear is a good source of fibre, are also high in vitamins C and K, as well as potassium and includes a good amount of antioxidants. They’re also especially good for gut health.
Some reports indicate that a pear before bed is a great help in getting you to sleep.
The other beauty of pears is they are a fruit you can pick while still not ripe – and they will gradually continue to ripen in the bowl on the bench.
As mentioned below, any pear variety will work with this, I generally use Bosc or Packhams, but you do need to make sure the pears are ripe. Hard pears take too long to cook against the timing for the cake.
This is an old fashioned recipe that’s been around for many years and can be used either as a dessert when hot, or as a cake.
Pear cake
Ingredients:
Three cups flour
One tsp baking soda
One tsp baking powder
One tsp salt
One tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
¼ cup crushed walnuts (optional)
One cup vegetable oil
One and 3/4 cups sugar
Three eggs
One tsp vanilla
Two and 1/2 cups peeled and diced fresh pears
Method
Preheat oven to 175C. Grease a cake or ring tin (known as a bundt pan). Peel and dice the pears to about 2cm pieces – ripe pears are necessary for this recipe.
In a large mixing bowl, sift or whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Combine vegetable oil and sugar. Mix on medium speed until combined using either a stand or hand mixer. Add eggs and vanilla.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the batter, scraping down the sides as needed, and mixing on low speed just until incorporated. Add pears, and walnuts if using, and stir just until combined.
Pour the batter into the pan. Bake for about 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the pan for at least 15-20 minutes, then gently run a knife along the edges to loosen. Invert onto a serving plate.
You can serve this hot with ice-cream and cream, or cool, sift with icing sugar and eat as a cake.
