Pear-Raspberry Cake

Our weeks of staying close to home have helped me appreciate little things more–how a few bright red tulips or golden daffodils in a yard brighten the whole space.  How neighbors waving hello from their porches bring my walks an old-fashioned feel of friendliness.  A cake I made recently seemed like a food version of this kind of balance—unpretentious, yet still special. Pear-Raspberry Cake is simple to make, but has lovely layers of flavor and pretty colors, too.

I adapted this dessert from a recipe for “Apple-Raspberry Cake” in the June 2001 “Delicious Paris” issue of Bon Appétit.  Chef Stephane Beauchamp contributed it, writing that it was based upon one of his grandmother’s recipes.  Beauchamp noted that pears could be substituted for the apples.  After trying the original version with apples, I made the cake again with pears and a few other changes, and we really loved it.

Preparing the Fruit

This cake begins with briefly cooking pieces of fresh pears on top of the stove. Since the pears I had on hand were naturally sweet, I reduced the amount of sugar by half in this stage. Only a few minutes in a skillet helped to soften the pears and reduce extra liquid in them.

While the pear pieces cooled, I put the batter together.

Making the Batter

After mixing the dry ingredients together, it was time to cream the butter and sugar. To allow the fruits’ flavors to stand out, I decreased the amount of sugar in the batter by one fourth. I also added lemon zest to give the cake a citrus note.

Eggs, vanilla extract, and lemon juice rounded out the wet ingredients. Then I stirred in the dry ingredients.

Next, it was time to place the batter and fruit in the cake pan. After building a thin bottom layer of batter, I added the cooked pear pieces and placed the raspberries over the pears. Then I dabbed the remaining batter on top of the fruit, knowing that it would expand during baking.

The finished cake was done in just forty minutes. Golden brown and studded with magenta raspberries, it smelled divine when it came out of the oven.

The parchment paper “handles” made it easy to transfer the cake to a platter after it had cooled for a while.

A taste of the first serving revealed meltingly soft pears offset by tart raspberries.  The touch of citrus from the lemon zest and juice enlivened each bite.

Pear-Raspberry Cake is easy to put together for a springtime meal and is perfect to enjoy with tea or coffee. Now that the weather’s warmer, we can even enjoy it outside.

Pears, raspberries, lemon, and some pantry staples can transform into a lovely cake.  It’s simple, yet special.

Pear-Raspberry Cake

Dawn Dobie

A simple cake that uses pantry ingredients for its batter but is elevated by the addition of fresh pears and raspberries

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Cooling time 1 hour hr

Total Time 2 hours hrs

Servings 9

Ingredients

  

For fruit mixture

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter room temperature
• 2 Bartlett pears --peeled, cored, and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 cup fresh raspberries (4.5 ounces)

For cake batter

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• zest of one lemon
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter --room temperature
• 3 large eggs --room temperature
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice --from zested lemon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

 

Prepare pan

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter bottom and sides of 9 X 9 X 2 inch pan. Flour sides of pan and cover bottom of pan with parchment paper, extending the paper above two sides by an inch or two (to help lift cake out later).

Prepare fruit mixture

• Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chopped pears and stir. Sprinkle pears with 1 tablespoon sugar and cook for 8- 10 minutes, until pears are soft, stirring frequently. All juices should be cooked away. Transfer pear pieces to wide bowl and spread out to cool. Keep raspberries set aside.

Prepare cake

• Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and ground ginger in small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
• Zest lemon over 3/4 cup sugar so that sugar can absorb all of the oils from the zest. Gently stir.
• Using electric mixer, beat 6 tablespoon of butter until fluffy. Add sugar-lemon zest mixture and beat well. Add eggs to creamed mixture one at a time, beating after each. Beat in lemon juice and vanilla extract.
• Add flour mixture to batter and beat until combined.
• Spread about 1 3/4 cups batter in bottom of pan and spread in even layer with offset spatula. (it should be about 1/2--3/4 inch thick.)
• Distribute pear pieces over batter evenly. Place raspberries among pears.
• Drop remaining batter onto top of pears and raspberries by teaspoonfuls, realizing that there will be a little space between each. The batter will spread as the cake bakes.
• Bake for 40 minutes, rotating pan after 20 minutes. Baked cake should be golden brown on top and have a toothpick come out clean when inserted into center.
• Cool completely on rack.
• Lift out of pan and transfer to plate to serve.

Notes

Adapted from a recipe for “Apple-Raspberry Cake” by Stephane Beaucamp in Bon Appétit (June 2001)

Golden Delicious apples can be substituted for pears.