PEAR & WALNUT CAKE

This super easy-to-make Pear and Walnut cake is for my little guy, aka Cake Loather. Yep, if you’ve been following this blog then you know his aversion to all things cake, cupcakes and frosting.

Make it a muffin or call it muffin– he’s all over it—of course it can’t be too sweet and no frosting. Forever pushing sweets on him, I kept those two things in mind and then dropped some fat pear halves into the batter.

The verdict. “Mom, I don’t like cake”.

Not even his favorite fruit could coax him into eating a sample properly. By properly, I mean one good hearty forkful. Nope, like Matt, he picked through the cake and went for the pear. Now the odd thing is, I’m gonna convert this to a muffin and I betcha the kid will be all over this.

PEAR & WALNUT CAKE

YIELD: Makes 1 8 inch cake

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of almond meal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup (2oz) Diamond of California chopped walnuts
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3-4 Bartlett pears (medium size, about 6oz. each), halved and cored

Directions:

Preparation: Heat oven 350 degrees F. Lightly cover a round 8 inch cake pan with bake spray and dust with flour, then line the bottom of the pan with parchment.

1. Place flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger and walnuts in a bowl and whisk until well combined.
2. Place eggs and sugar in a food processor and pulse until well blended and mixture is pale and fluffy. Add in buttermilk and olive oil, and again, pulse until well blended and batter is thick. (Note: The wet ingredients can also be mixed in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment). Fold in dry ingredients into wet mixture and pour batter into cake pan. Place halved pears into cake.
3. Bake for 90 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean when inserted into center of cake. Start checking for doneness around 70 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cook for five minutes before removing cake from pan. ***Optional: Garnish with raspberries and dust with confectioner sugar.

http://www.bakersroyale.com/pear-walnut-cake/