My neighbor Sarah gives this little cake an “A.”
I have to agree with her. I’ve been testing it all morning (a bite here, a bite there…you know how that goes!). It’s spicy delicious with all the right fall flavors.
This recipe is adapted from the “Bake From Scratch” magazine. You can subscribe to the magazine here. It is a great magazine if you love to bake.
You need to try this one. Sarah is a tough grader. No grade inflation there!
Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.
Pear Fritter Cake
November 12, 2022
Ingredients
- For the Cake:
- 2/3 C. granulated sugar
- 2/3 C. firmly-packed light brown sugar (divided)
- 1/2 C. plus 2 T. grape seed oil (or other neutral oil)
- 1/2 C. sour cream at room temperature (I used Mexican crema)
- 1/4 C. water at room temperature
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 1/2 t. vanilla bean paste
- 2 1/2 C. plus 1 t. all-purpose flour (divided)
- 2 t. baking powder
- 1 t. kosher salt
- 1/2 t. ground nutmeg
- 1/4 t. baking soda
- 1 1/4 C. chopped Bartlett pears (divided)
- 2 1/2 t. ground cinnamon (divided)
- For the Vanilla Glaze
- 1 1/3 C. powdered sugar
- 1/4 t. vanilla bean paste
- 1 1/2 T water
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Step 2 Prepare a 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan by spraying it with cooking spray and then lining it with parchment paper. Cut the parchment paper larger than the pan and let two of the sides hang over the long edges of the pan by about 2 inches. This will give you handles to remove your cake from the pan without breaking the cake.
- Step 3 For the cake, whisk the granulated sugar, 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, oil, sour cream (or crema), 1/4 C. water at room temperature, eggs, and vanilla bean paste together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Step 4 In another bowl whisk 2 1/2 C. flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and baking soda together. Mix this flour mixture into the wet egg mixture a little at a time. Stir the mixture just until all the ingredients are combined. Don’t overmix.
- Step 5 Chop the peeled pears into 1/2 inch pieces and toss with 1 t. cinnamon and the remaining 1 t. flour. Fold this pear mixture into the batter. Be careful that no flour pockets remain in the batter but, again, don’t over mix the batter. Set aside.
- Step 6 Prepare the remaining brown sugar topping. Stir the remaining 1/3 C. of brown sugar together with the remaining 1 1/2 t. cinnamon. Set aside.
- Step 7 Spoon about one-half of the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle about half of the brown sugar mixture over the batter. Spoon the remaining half of the batter into the pan. Distribute the remaining chopped pears over the top of the batter. Use your fingers to press the pears into the batter. Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar mixture over the top of the pears. Use a butter knife to mix the brown sugar topping decoratively on top of the cake (use a swirling motion).
- Step 8 Put the cake into the 350 degree F. oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into the top of the cake comes out clean. (Rotate the cake in the oven after 35 minutes and top the cake with a piece of aluminum foil to keep the top from getting too brown.)The original recipe called for baking the cake for 70 or 80 minutes. My cake took an additional ten minutes. Times will vary depending upon your oven.
- Step 9 Once your cake is fully baked, remove it from the oven and let it cool completely on a rack. While your cake is cooling, make your glaze. Once the cake is completely cool, drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake.
