Bare Pear Cake. Simple snack cake features ground cinnamon, vanilla bean paste, and fresh pear. Lightly frosted with caramelized pear buttercream. Served with warm caramelized pears and candied pecans.
This pear cake always gets rave reviews. The cake batter features a little maple syrup, some cinnamon and a splash of vanilla. It’s an incredibly moist cake packed with fresh Bosc pear. Today I enhanced the batter with a 1/4 cup of chopped candied pecans.
It can be baked in one or many layers. Today’s little snack cake is three 6-inch rounds barely frosted with a caramelized pear buttercream frosting. The beauty of this cake is that it was prepped, baked, cooled, and frosted in about an hour. The cake is served with a side of warmed caramelized pears and whole candied pecans bathed in caramel sauce.
Typically, when I decorate layer cakes they have several flavors of buttercream. One or more different flavors between layers, and one or more adorning the outside. I will often skip a layer of buttercream inside and substitute with a fruit filling or curd. With multiple flavors going on, each bite, potentially, offers a little something different.
I will be posting another pear cake down the road that I love to bake. It utilizes pear butter rather than fresh pear pieces, and delivers a lighter, airier cake. It calls for almond flour, another staple in my pantry that is not available at the moment.
Our cake starts with all-purpose flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt being measured, sifted and whisked together. Butter is creamed with sugar and beaten with a bit of vanilla, and several eggs. Half the flour mixture is added to the butter mixture, followed by a cup of milk, and the remaining flour mixture. Once the cake batter starts to come together, the shredded pear and chopped candied pecan pieces are folded in.
The batter is divided between three 6-inch round cake pans that have been buttered and lined with a parchment paper circle. The rounds are baked in a preheated oven until golden and baked through. A paring knife inserted in the top center of each round should come out clean. It is better to bake these cake rounds a few extra minutes to ensure they are completely baked through. Moist is good, uncooked is not.
This pear cake was served with caramelized pears. The ripe Bosc pears are peeled, cored and sliced about 1/8-inch thick. They are sautéed in melted butter and a tablespoon of caramel sauce until they are tender. The warm pears are tossed with a little more caramel sauce and whole candied pecans.
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Caramelized Pear Buttercream
Ingredients
Caramelized Pears
- 2 each ripe pears, peeled, cored, and cut into long strips
- 5 grams unsalted butter (1 teaspoon)
- 14 grams brown sugar (1 tablespoon)
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
- 5 grams vanilla bean paste (1 teaspoon)
Buttercream
- 56 grams unsalted butter (4 tablespoons OR 1/2 stick)
- 250 grams powdered sugar (2 cups)
- 60 grams heavy cream (1/4 cup)
Instructions
- Caramelized Pears
- Add pear strips, unsalted butter, and brown sugar to small skillet. Sauté over low heat until pears are soft, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat and cool. Add caramelized pears to food processor. Process until smooth. Set aside.
Buttercream
- Add unsalted butter, powdered sugar, and heavy cream to stand mixer. Beat on low until fluffy. Fold in processed caramelized pears.
