Chocolate, Cinnamon and Pear Loaf Cake

You know when you scroll through Pinterest for ideas and everything looks absolutely perfect? You know those loaf cakes with the top of some pears peeking perfectly out. It turns out that Pinterest is sorcery and it is not to be trusted.

I tried it and was a little disillusioned to find that my loaf rose so much it covered the tops of the pears and they flopped to one side as if they'd drunk to much wine.

Unruly pears aside, I still love the contrast of the pear within the chocolate cinnamon loaf that each slice gives. My favourite way to serve it is warmed with a little custard or with a short, strong coffee for breakfast on a Monday. Just to make Monday's that little bit friendlier. And besides, it'll be one of your five a day.

C H O C O L A T E   C I N N A M O N   P E A R   L O A F   C A K E
(Recipe adapted from Better Homes & Gardens)

Poached pears:

2-3 medium conference pears

400ml water

50g granulated sugar

1 tbsp orange/lemon juice

1 cinnamon stick

Chocolate cinnamon loaf:

250g plain flour

140g soft light brown sugar

40g cocoa powder

1tsp baking powder

1tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

250ml buttermilk

90ml vegetable/sunflower oil

1tbsp plain flour

1tbsp cocoa powder

1/2tsp ground cinnamon

To finish:

75g white chocolate, melted

orange zest

1. In a large saucepan, bring the water and sugar to the bowl along with the juice and cinnamon. Once the sugar has fully dissolved, add the pears and bring to the boil once again. Cover and leave to simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the pears are tender. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool.
2. Heat the oven to 180 degrees and thoroughly grease a 2lb loaf tin.
3. In a large mixing bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients to remove any lumps. Take another bowl, add the wet ingredients and whisk also. Add the wet into the dry ingredients and fold in until you have a smooth batter.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin.
5. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the tablespoon of flour, cocoa powder and half teaspoon of ground cinnamon until incorporated. Gently roll each pear in the mix until fully coated. Place the pears steam side up in the tin and push gently down towards the bottom. 
6. Bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

During baking the cake may rise over the top of the pears and they may sink a little, but that's ok. They will still look good when the loaf is sliced.

In place of buttermilk, I always make my own sour milk with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice but sour cream or yogurt would also work well.

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Recipe: Roasted Pear Cake with Browned Butter Glaze

All cakes made with fruit and vegetables are healthy, right? Ripe pears are roasted and then mashed before adding to a spiced cake mix. A browned butter glaze has a completely different dimension to regular glazes. Rich and nutty, and only minutes to make.

This cake is great to make ahead, it'll last you through the week too if you're good at self-control. Although if that's you then why are you reading this? No self-control here please, just a lot of food.

If you're not a fan of pears, then try apples. Homemade roasted apples preferably, but a jar of apple sauce would also work at a push.

Make a bundt, a round cake or maybe even a traybake. This is one of those cakes that's so easy to slice and serve. It doesn't even need the glaze if its too rich for you.

If you have any smashed pears left, I love saving them for breakfast the next day - so good on porridge!

Roasted pear cake with browned butter glaze
(recipe adapted from Food 52, makes one bundt or a xyz" cake)

The ingredients are converted from cup measurements, I did them as I went along and always found the quantities to look a little odd!

1.1kg conference pears (approx. 9 medium pears)

3tbsp water

3tbsp demerara sugar

juice of 1 lemon

475g plain flour

2tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

130g unsalted butter, softened

100ml vegetable/sunflower oil

300g soft light brown sugar

2 eggs

100g creme fraiche

Browned butter glaze

6tbsp unsalted butter

200g icing sugar, sifted

2-4tbsp whole milk

pinch of salt

• Heat the oven to 190 degrees.
• Peel, core and chop the pears into large chunks. Put in a large baking tray and toss with the water, sugar and lemon. Cover with foil and bake for  25-30 minutes.
• Once cooked, the pears should be slightly soft and you'll be able to mash them with a potato masher. Leave some larger chunks. Place in a bowl and leave to cool.
• Turn the oven down to 180 degrees ready for the cake and grease the cake tin.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices to remove any lumps.
• In a stand mixer, beat the butter, oil and sugar together until smooth. Add the eggs into the mix, beating well after each addition.
• Add the creme fraiche and 500g of the mashed pears and continue to mix until well incorporated.
• Gently fold in the flour, being careful not to overwork the mix.
• Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for 55-65 minutes. A skewer inserted should come out clean.
• Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire cooling rack.
• To make the glaze, melt the butter over a low heat. Once its melted, it'll start to bubble. Leave on the low heat until it starts to brown and smells nutty. Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl.
• Once the butter has cooled a little, tip in the icing sugar, some milk and salt and whisk until smooth. Add a splash more milk if needed to get a pouring consistency.

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Recipe: Crumble-topped Pear & Almond Slice

Another week, another recipe to use up what's lurking around my fridge. This week, pears.

After getting Ruby Tandoh's book Crumb the other week I've bookmarked a few recipes to try. You may remember rye & caraway bagels, they went down very well. This recipe is essentially a sweet bread topped with honeyed pears, almonds and crumble. Great with a steaming mug of coffee for breakfast.

Although there was no picture in the book, it did state to roll out to a rectangular shape...I went for more of a pizza slice, no one complained!

Crumble-topped pear & almond slice
(Recipe from Ruby Tandoh's Crumb, serves 8).

300g strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
190ml milk

For the pear topping:

4 firm dessert pears, such as Williams, Comice or Bosc (although I used Conference and they were fine)
30g unsalted butter
4 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp ground allspice
70g flaked almonds

For the crumble topping:

50g unsalted butter, room temperature
50g white flour
40g soft light brown sugar
30g flaked almonds, finely chopped

Combine the flour, yeast and honey together in a mixing bowl. In a small pan, heat the honey and milk on a low temperature until tepid. Pour into the dry ingredients, mix and knead for 5-10 minutes. The dough will become less sticky. Loosely cover with clingfilm and leave for an hour at room temperature. The dough will double in size.

Meanwhile, prepare the pears. Peel, core and slice. Melt the butter with honey and allspice on low in a large pan. Once melted, increase to a medium heat and add the pears to caramelised. They will soften and turn golden after 5 minutes if stirred regularly. If they start to disintegrate, remove from the heat. Stir in the flaked almonds and leave to cool.

For the crumble, rub together the butter, flour and sugar between your fingertips until the mixture clumps together. Add the chopped almonds and chill in the fridge.

Lightly flour a work surface and turn out the risen dough. Roll to around 20x30cm. Place on a large, lined baking tray and prove for 30-45 minutes. Heat the oven to 200 degrees.

Once proved, arrange the pears on the risen dough with a 1cm border. Sprinkle over the crumble and brush the edges with the leftover honey from the pears. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 180 degrees and bake for a further 20 minutes.

Pear and Cardamom Cake with Coffee and Amaretti

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   I had intended to attend my first Putney Bake Club event last week but couldn't attend due to work commitments. The theme was Harvest Festival so I decided to make this pear and cardamom cake with coffee and an amaretti topping. The kind of cake that's perfect slightly warmed and served with a dollop of custard. Warming and autumnal.

   Said cake was all ready to go, but instead it was left feeling sorry for itself in the kitchen so I thought I'd show it a little attention and post the recipe. Boy Loves Food had even helped me with its little photoshoot, he makes a good assistant.

   Fresh pears make this cake really moist, with a little nuttiness from ground almonds and freshly ground cardamom to lend a little floral hint.

Pear and cardamom cake with coffee and amaretti
(Recipe from Warm Snug Fat...the best baking blog name I have ever seen!)
     175g butter, softened
     175g light muscavado sugar
     3 medium eggs
     50g ground almonds
     1tsp freshly ground cardamom
     175g self raising flour
     2 tbsp espresso coffee
     3 ripe pears, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
     4 amaretti biscuits, roughly crushed
     75g dark chocolate

• Heat the oven to 190 degrees and grease and line a 20 cm loose bottomed tin.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluff.y
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
• Fold in the ground almonds, cardamom, flour, coffee and two thirds of the chopped pears until well combined.
• Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level the surface.
• Scatter the remaining pears and two thirds of the amaretti biscuits over the top and bake for 1 hour until risen and cooked. If you insert a skewer into the centre it should come out clean.
• Allow the cake to cool completely.
• Remove the cake from the tin and place onto a serving plate. Scatter over the remaining biscuits.
• Melt the chocolate and drizzle over the top of the cake.