I’ve been immersing myself in comfort baking lately, stocking our fridge, biscuit and cake tins with treats that we probably normally wouldn’t indulge in quite so often as we cocoon here at home, waiting out the corona-virus pandemic. I had a mix of Williams and Beurre Bosc pears in my fruit bowl that really needed eating so they made their way into this classic, mix-and- bake cake that we’ve been serving with either custard (my daughter’s choice) or cream (my choice). It’s one of those cakes that’s delicious served warm and, as it doesn’t freeze or microwave very well, is perfect to eat fresh from the oven or within a day or two of baking. I don’t know who to credit for this recipe as it‘s one that I tore from an old magazine many years ago and stuffed into my “some-day-I’ll-make-this” recipe folder! One day soon, I WILL get around to sorting these recipes into some kind of order- a task I always think I must do but never find the time! Now, it seems, there’s plenty of time, so I’ll pop that job onto my “Corona-Cocooning To Do List.” In the meantime, I hope this sweet little cake brings you a big serving of joy and happiness!
METHOD:
1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius (or 160 degrees fan-forced).
2. Grease a 23cm springform cake pan with the butter then sprinkle half the ground almonds around the base and sides and ensure they are well coated. The pan should then be placed on an oven tray lined with baking paper.
3. Use a food processor to whizz together the eggs and caster sugar. Then add in the vanilla, cinnamon, milk and flour. Pulse until you end up with a lovely creamy, thick, smooth batter.
4. Transfer the batter into a large mixing bowl and gently stir in the pears. Once you’ve poured the mixture into your cake pan, sprinkle the top with the remaining almond meal, demerara sugar and dot with the extra butter.
5. Bake the cake for one hour or until the top is golden brown. You can cover the cake with foil during the last part of the bake if it’s browning too quickly.
6. Once the tin is cool enough to handle, you can gently turn out the cake and serve it warm as a dessert. Or allow to cool completely and serve as an afternoon tea cake.
INGREDIENTS:
A generous tablespoon of unsalted butter, softened, to grease the cake tin.
4 pears peeled, cored and cut into thick slices (you can use any variety of pear)
1/2 cup of almond meal
3 eggs (the fresher the better!)
1 1/4 cups of caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup of full cream milk
2 cups of self raising flour ( no need to sift )
2 tablespoons of demerara sugar (for the top of the cake to incorporate a lovely butterscotch flavour while baking.)
Approx 20-30gms of unsalted butter to dot on top of the cake before baking.
Happy baking!
Styling & Photography by Michelle Hartnett. Images ©Michelle Hartnett 2020. All rights reserved.