Saturday, March 1, 2008

Pear Spice Cake

I made this delicious little piece of heaven last night for dessert after dinner. It's a melding of recipes that I found online then tweaked to create something that appealed to what I was looking for. Here goes:







Flour, sugar and spice (and everything nice, lol)




All ingredients



Blended ingredients





Pear layer




Cooling down





Out of the pan





.......with powdered sugar








Glazed perfection










Apples or Pears (or a combination of the two) can be used. I chose to use Apple Pears (also called Asian Pears). They weren't very sweet, although, since this was my first time ever trying them, I'm not sure if they're supposed to be.

*sidenote: I am a HUGE pear fan. I didn't even know this pear existed until my visit to Walmart earlier this week. I ate one and wasn't too thrilled with it's flavor so I decided to cook with them instead.

Anyhoo, this cake is perfect for the winter/holiday season. I honestly couldn't see eating this during summer months. I'm a firm believer of cooking according to the time of the year. My husband loved it and has now added to the top of his favorites list along with his mother's Chocolate Cake w/ Peanut Butter Frosting (Watch out, Mom! I'm gaining on you! lol).

Pear Spice Cake


3 pears or apples (cored and sliced)
2 oranges (zest 1 orange)
2 1/2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil (you may substitute Vegetable oil. Canola is a personal preference of mine)
4 large eggs
1 tbsp. baking powder
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp Jamaican Allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350F.
Grease and flour a bundt cake pan or spray pan with a nonstick cooking spray (preferably one that has flour). Set aside.
Beat eggs in a large bowl until blended then add the orange zest and juice from both oranges to the eggs using a hand or stand mixer on a low setting. Mix well.
Add all dry ingredients (spices, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) and mix well. Keeping mixer on a low setting, add oil and vanilla. Mix until blended thoroughly.
Add 1/3rd of the batter to the bundt pan then add a layer of sliced pears. Repeat this process being sure to end with batter. You should have atleast 3 layers of pears.
Bake for 1 1/2 hours (or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean). Cool in pan for about a half hour before removing.

Toppings

Use about 1/4 cup confectioners sugar for dusting (this way you can serve the cake immediately after removing it from the pan).

You may also top it with a basic Vanilla Glaze. The cake must cool completely before adding glaze, otherwise it will melt.

Vanilla Glaze

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 tbsp. half and half

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix ingredients well and let stand for 5-7 minutes. Drizzle on top of cake with a spoon.

As I stated earlier, this was one of my favorite recipes. Next time I think I may add some pecans or walnuts.

 
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