It’s a beauty!
I shared this cake with my friend Gene. He was “baching it” while his wife, Sarah, was having surgery. Cooking is not his thing. Gardening is.
The other day he confided in me that he portioned the cake out so that he could enjoy it for as long as possible. I love it when people enjoy the food I prepare. That, for me, is one of the true joys of cooking. Gene is one of the kindest and most decent people I know, so I particularly appreciated his remarks.
This is a very moist cake with not only pears cooked decoratively into the brown sugar and butter topping but also with a generous amount of grated pears incorporated into the cake batter. If pears are your thing, this cake has it all.
And then there are the spices! Lots of them. The ginger in the cake, both in ground form and as finely-chopped candied ginger, is particularly good.
Save RecipeIngredients
- 6 T. unsalted butter
- 3/4 C. packed light brown sugar
- 6 Bosc pears (peeled and cored and divided)
- 1 1/3 C. unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2/3 C. granulated sugar
- 1/4 t. ground cardamom
- 1/4 t. freshly-grated nutmeg
- 1 t. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 t. ground ginger
- 1 t. baking soda
- 1 t. sea salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 t. orange zest
- 3 T. finely-chopped candied ginger
- 1 t. vanilla bean paste
- 1/2 C. vegetable oil
- Whipped heavy cream for serving
- Raspberries for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. When the pan is hot, melt the butter in the pan. As soon as the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat and sprinkle the brown sugar over the melted butter.
- Prepare the pears. Peel the pears. Grate two Bosc pears into a bowl and set aside. Quarter the remaining four pears and thinly slice them. Arrange the sliced pears on top of the brown sugar in the cast iron skillet in a circular pattern. (I was using large Bosc pears and did not use all of the pear slices on top of my cake.)
- Mix flour, sugar, spices, baking soda and salt together in a bowl and whisk. Set aside.
- Add eggs, orange zest, candied ginger, vanilla and vegetable oil to the bowl with the grated pears and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients to this bowl and stir the mixture just until it is combined.
- Spread the batter evenly over the sliced pears in the cast iron skillet. Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 40 minutes. When your cake is done, a skewer inserted into the center of the cake will come out clean and the cake will be springy to the touch. The finished cake will be moist, particularly on the day it is baked.
- Leaving the cake in the skillet, cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to ease removing it from the skillet. Carefully invert the skillet over a serving platter and the cake should come out of the pan easily. (Remember that the cast iron skillet is pretty heavy.) Garnish with fresh raspberries.
- Serve at room temperature with a generous dollop of heavy whipped cream. Enjoy.
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This cake is adapted from one that was taught in a holiday dessert workshop at Sur La Table. Their classes are wonderful!
