Getting Rid of Extra Fruit - Pear Almond Cake

So you know how I’m seasonally challenged? Well I’m just going to say that this recipe is for the Americans, because pears are still sort of in season over there. So yeah, Mom, this one’s for you.

A progression of the Pear Cake - here we are, bathing in the morning sun.

Also, remember Apple-Gate 2011 – the box of fruit that was occupying my hallway? Well it also included a big lot of pears, which I adore and don’t really understand why I hadn’t eaten so much as one of them the whole time they were sitting there. Maybe because they were in the hall, and who picks up something to eat in the hall? Halls are for storing things that are in a transitory state, things that need to be dealt with and you need a visual reminder to do something with them. Like dirty laundry, winter clothes that need to be moved to the closet in the other room coz yours is too small to hold everything, or in my case, aging fruit.


Pear Cake 2 - wearing a light coat of icing sugar and reclining in the sunshine.

The secret to this cake is to age your pears way past their prime. I have become a master of fruit aging recently. It’s a science really – you have to leave them long enough to be nice and sweet, but you can’t leave them too long or they’ll just fall apart when you try to peel them. I really do recommend buying a whole bunch of pears and apples at the farmer’s market, leaving them somewhere out of the way and completely forgetting about them for a while, then one Sunday night at about 9pm remembering that your fruit is about to go off and you must use it NOW or the HazMat people will be storming through your door tomorrow in their big shiny suits and helmets. 

Coming soon to my hallway!

Oh, and be sure that wherever you leave the fruit is cool and dry, coz you don’t want your fruit to go all manky. Heh.

Pear Cake 3 - an orphaned slice awaiting glory.

I have gotten no less than two emails and three walkovers (from faraway desks) from workmates today raving about this cake, and that is no mean feat when your office only has twenty people. That’s a 25% positive response rate! And it’s not including the people who sit near me and thanked me for the fantastic cake as they walked by, so I reckon that the real number should be something like 120% positive response.

Pear Cake 4 - what the office fought over.

Note: this post has been edited to reduce the number of exclamation points. I find I over-exclamate.

Pear-Almond Cake

• 3 large overripe pears/6 small
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 200 g butter, melted
• ¾ cup semi-sweet choc chips
• ½ cup slivered almonds
• Icing/powdered sugar for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 190C/375F. Line and grease a springform pan.
2. Peel and slice your overripe pears.
3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking soda.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar and eggs together until creamy. Add melted and cooled butter and whisk together.
5. Add the wet mix to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
6. Spoon about half of the mixture into the springform pan, then lay half the pear slices in the mix.
7. Sprinkle over all of the choc chips and almonds and top with remaining mixture.
8. Lay the rest of the pairs on top in a fun pattern.
9. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool in the pan.
10. Sprinkle icing/powdered sugar on top for garnish just before serving.