Gingery, gooey pecans and pears and a fluffy buttermilk cake. It was a delightful end to the day!
A bowl full of over ripe Packham pears, a looming #52Cake deadline and a trip out of town were facing me down. Pear cake was the obvious choice so that the pears wouldn’t go to waste but what kind of pear cake? I googled, of course, for inspiration and found several enticing recipes. Two hours later, suitcases still unpacked, and my mom and I were happily eating close to half of this fantastic cake!
It is very light but the flavors make me think of autumn and Christmas so I will probably be pulling this out again later this year. Or, whenever I happen to have extra pears. Who needs an excuse for a delicious cake, right?
It was after 9pm when I took the cake out of the oven and I had to run outside to catch some good light!
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup butter
- 3 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 cup of toasted pecans, roughly chopped
- 3 ripe pears, I used very ripe Parkham pears
- dash of cinnamon
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 tsp vanilla
- 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- In saucepan over medium heat, cook coconut sugar, butter, lemon juice and ginger stirring, until sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in toasted pecans.
- Pour into greased and parchment paper–lined 9-inch square cake pan.
- Peel, core and slice pears into about ¼-inch thick wedges.
- Arrange wedges, overlapping slightly, over the pecan mixture.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon.
- In stand mixer, beat butter with sugars until fluffy then beat in eggs and vanilla.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder and baking soda; stir into butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, making 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of buttermilk.
- Pour over pears.
- Bake in 350ºF oven until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
- Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverting on to your serving plate and discarding parchment paper.
You make me want cake!
Absolutely fab! Had a piece for breakfast as well the next morning…definitely best when just out of oven!!!