Pear and Almond Cake

 
I had plans to provide lots of healthy recipes after the New Year for those of you who were tired of holiday eating.  I promise that there will be more of those coming.  But this cake is what I am loving right now, so I wanted to share it with you.

I have made it three times in the past week for various occasions and it keeps getting better.  It is one of those terrific all purpose cakes that everyone should have in rotation.  It is delicious enough to serve at a dinner party and homey enough to serve as a snack.  Most recently, we had it on Three Kings Day with a macadamia nut buried inside.  (Olivia got the nut and was Queen for the rest of the day, which lasted about 15 minutes.  But we did get to read the story in her room.) 

The kids have even had it for breakfast.  With all those nuts and fruit, it can't be that bad. . . right? 

 
The cake is moist and tender on the inside and has a crisp chewy shell on the outside.  Because of the fruit, it stays moist for several days.  It might keep even longer, but it hasn't lasted long enough around here for me to tell you for sure.  The nuts are ground finely so that they add some texture and chewiness but are not the star of the show.  That role is reserved for the pears.  Pears are one of the few fruits available at our farmers' markets all winter.  I'm sure that by March I will tire of them, but now, I am really enjoying their juicy deliciousness. 

This weekend, I may even buy some extras so that by the end of the week I'll have a few that need to be used right away.  Any excuse to make this cake!

By the way, I have really been enjoying all of your comments about family dinners.  Thank you for sharing your experiences.  It has been very inspiring to me!  And I now have a Twitter button at the top of the page if you'd like to follow my daily posts there.

 

Pear and Almond Cake

 

This cake is delicious on its own, but looks lovely with a dusting of powdered sugar.  For a more decadent dessert, serve it with a scoop of lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Serves 12
20 minutes preparation time
approximately 1 hour 10 minutes baking time

1 cup whole unsalted, raw almonds
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup canola oil
3 large eggs
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 Bosc pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch cubes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour a Bundt pan.

Finely chop the almonds in a food processor.  In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the chopped almonds, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  In a large bowl, whisk together the canola oil, eggs, sugars, and almond extract.  Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until they are just combined.  Gently stir in the pears.

Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  Let the cake cool in the pan for about 30 minutes, and then turn it onto a cooling rack.  When it has cooled, turn it onto a serving plate, cut yourself a nice big piece, polish a fork, and dig in.

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Comments

[Kathy S.]

Any chance I can use almond meal instead of chopped almonds? I bought some a while ago for a recipe on a different food blog and I never actually used it. The cake sounds delish!

[Margy]

I have not tried the recipe with almond meal, Kathy, but I used less flour for this recipe than I normally would so the almond meal might work. If you try it, please let me know how it turns out.

[Kathy S.]

I made the cake a couple of days ago. Yum! I couldn't believe how moist it was. I used a tsp. of cinnamon (you didn't REALLY mean a tablespoon, did you?) and I increased the almond extract a little bit because I find the flavor addictive. I will try it again with almond meal and see how that works out.

[Margy]

Kathy, that's an excellent way to describe almond extract. I agree. I did use a tablespoon of cinnamon and thought it really punched up the flavor, although with extra almond extract that may not be necessary.