Spiced Pear Cake with Maple Bourbon Cake
A gently spiced pear cake folded in with fresh pears for juicy bites in between mouthfuls of soft cake
Servings: 1 tall 9-inch cake
Ingredients
Spiced Pear Cake
- 300 mL (1¼ cups) vegetable oil ,or any mild flavored oil
- 300 g (1½ cups) granulated sugar
- 130 g (⅔ cup) brown sugar ,packed
- 4 tbsp bourbon*
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs* ,room temp
- 300 g (2 cups) 2 grated pears ,peeled and cored
- 300 g (2 cups) 2 chopped pears ,cubed, peeled and cored
- 240 g (2 cups) all purpose flour + 1 tbsp extra ,sifted
- 130 g (1 cup) whole wheat flour ,sifted
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp salt
- 100 g (1 cup) chopped walnuts ,optional
Maple Bourbon Glaze
- 60 mL (¼ cup) heavy cream*
- 50 g (¼ cup) granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 2 tbsp bourbon
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter*
- 1 pinch (⅛ tsp) salt
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Generously line your pan with butter and flour. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the 2 cups of all purpose flour, wheat flour, spices, baking soda, and salt.
- In a separate larger bowl, mix together the oil, sugars, bourbon, vanilla and eggs until the batter resembles a golden syrupy goop. Fold in the grated pears until just incorporated. Then, add in the flour mixture until no large clumps of flour are left.
- Toss the remaining cubed pears with the 1 tbsp of flour then fold the chunks in the cake batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan* and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for at least 15 minutes then turn out on a wire rack to cool further
Glaze
- Meanwhile, make the glaze. Add all the glaze ingredients in a heavy bottomed pot placed over medium low heat. Stir occasionally and simmer for around 2 minutes. The glaze will become thicker as it cools.
- Pour half of the glaze over the still warm cake and reserve the rest for extra drizzling when ready to eat. Cut, serve and enjoy warm.
Notes
*You can opt to use another similar alcohol if you don't have bourbon on hand. I would recommend brandy, whisky or rum.
*The eggs can be substituted with 3 flax eggs (see tips section in my post) for a vegan version.
*The heavy cream and butter in the glaze can be replaced with coconut cream and vegan butter for a vegan version.
*I reserved a few sliced pears to make the decorative topping in the photos but feel free to decorate in any way you want.
Recipe inspired from Zoë François