6 cake: country-fresh pear cake
04 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in cake, pears, sweets Tags: autumn, baking, country fresh pear cake, dessert, farm fresh, wholefoods
to spare my household another deluge of sugar, i turned to my wholesome stand-by Nikki & David Goldbeck’s American Wholefoods Cuisine: over 1300 meatless wholesome recipes from short order to gourmet (1983). “To have your cake and eat it too,” they explain, “The trick is to make the dessert an integral part of the meal.”
perfectly ripe farm fresh pears in hand and breakfast in mind, the Am Wholefoods’ Country-Fresh Pear Cake recipe answered the call. Just a few luxurious touches like a slab more butter and a crushed almond crust, made it just a twinge more…femme.
draw 2 eggs out of the fridge to warm. Preheat the oven to 350˚ then line and butter a 9 inch round pan. finely chop about a cup of almonds, roasted work fine, to dust the sides and loosely cover the bottom of the pan.
peel, core and chop 4 pears. the recipe calls for 2 pounds; i had 2 large and 2 small pears and that was plenty of pear.
melt 3 tablespoons of butter (one more than our wholesome friends recommend) in a liquid measuring cup then measure in a generous ½ cup of honey and ¼ cup of cream.
beat together—wholeheartedly— the eggs, butter, honey and cream. Add a dash of salt. Sprinkle in ¾ cup whole wheat flour and ¾ cup of cornmeal, through your fingers like you’re making polenta, and fold into the batter. The cornmeal taste and texture compliments the pears yet makes for a denser cake; you can make it as prescribed with all whole wheat flour or lighten it up by using yogurt and adding a teaspoon of baking soda. Fold in the pears.
pour into the pan. Spread to the edges and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. And bake for about 45 minutes. Enjoy warm with vanilla or ginger ice cream if you feel that way about it. Or eat with coffee in the morning.
