syrupy pear cake

I’ve been meaning to share this pudding with you for weeks, but something else keeps coming along to write about. But I need to hurry, before pear season is well and truly over.

 

This syrupy, mellow pudding came about after a string of failed attempts at making pear clafoutis. I wanted something where the fruit — beautiful beurre boscs from my father’s trees — were the stars (I refuse to say ‘hero’). More fruit than cake. But the two recipes I tried were complete rubbery disasters. One was even from a beautiful book documenting life in rural France, so I thought I’d be on a winner there! But the custards were thick and somehow solid-but-bendy, just like industrial flooring one might find in kitchens or warehouses to stop your feet from aching. If that rubbery flooring was a creamy yellow colour.

Looked good - tasted rubbery 

 

I was complaining one afternoon to my mother when the light bulb went off. Another tough clafoutis, I moaned. I want something light, something to show off these delicious pears with their woody patina, something perhaps like an upside-down cake but not too cake-y; something along the lines of that Donna Hay upside-down syrup cake I make with the orange slices …

 

Ping!

 

There was the answer, tucked away in my own file of favourites all along.

 

So instead of paper-thin orange slices, there are elegantly cored pear wedges (use a melon baller to remove the seeds for perfectly circular shapes). There is a wonderful slosh (or two) of sherry in there, because the rounded mellowness of sherry (excuse the pun) pairs beautifully with pears.  And as with my orange original, the cake-to-syrupy fruit ratio is heavily weighted in the fruit’s favour. This was the light, sticky affair I was dreaming of.

Syrupy pear cake
Adapted from my upside down orange cake

• Preheat oven to 160 and use a pan about 22-24 cm across that can go on your stovetop and in your oven.
• First make the pear topping: put 1 cup white sugar plus quarter cup sherry plus quarter cup water in the pan, stir over medium heat till dissolved. Then stir thru 1 tspn speckly vanilla paste, then add pear wedges - enough to cover the bottom. I cut up three or four pears and see how I go; it will depend on the size of your fruit. Cook over a gently bubbling heat for about 10-15 minutes until fruit is softened (though beurre boscs do maintain their shape). Once done, remove from heat.
• Next the cake: in a bowl, beat 2 eggs, half a cup of sugar and 1/2 tspn vanilla for about 10 minutes until the mix is pale and tripled in size. As I noted in my original recipe, have a stand mixer or very strong biceps.
• Then sift in 1/2 cup of SR flour, 1/2 cup almond meal, and 75 gms of butter that you’ve melted and cooled slightly (I put it in a small bowl in the preheating oven).
• Pour this carefully over the pears, then bake for 35-40 minutes. You may need to cover with foil towards the end. Once done, turn out onto a plate or enjoy straight from the tin.