Tag Archives: pear

Pear Almond Cake

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A few weeks ago I went to a street party in Borum Hill, Brooklyn, with a whole roasted pig, delicious cheeses and desserts. At the cake table I found a fantastic apple tart, made by David Becker @ Friend of the Farmer. David’s cake had almost no flour and was very moist and fruity. It also seemed to be really easy to make. His cake reminded me of a fantastic fruit cake I made this summer, except that my cake was too complicated and I used milled almonds instead of flour. At home I decided to turn my summer cake into something as easy as this…

for the cake
3-4 ripe pears (or any other seasonal fruit such as apple, cherry or plums)
2 large eggs
1 cups (240 ml) sucanat
1 1/3 cup (300 ml) fresh milled almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup (60ml) whole milk
3.5 oz (100g) butter, melted
2 teaspoons of crushed cardamoms

Preheat the oven to 375° F (190°C). Peel the pears and slice into thin slices. Whisk the eggs with the sucanat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the milled almonds and baking powder. When the almonds are well blended with the eggs add milk, melted butter and cardamoms. Carefully add the pears to the mixture. Grease a baking tin, about 11 inch diameter. Fill the form with the cake mixture and bake it in the center of the oven for about 40-50 minutes. The cake should be golden brown and if you stick a small knife into it, it should come out clean. Cool the cake a little before serving. This cake can be made in advance as it taste fabulous the next day too.

Thanks David!

Nathalie’s Pear Clafoutis with Aniseed

 

shed

Nathalie is possibly one of the best home chefs I know. Luckily for us she spoils us with her treats every time we are in London. One of the best moments were when her husband allowed us to dine in his new built writing-shed in their beautiful garden. Well we could barely fit and to get in and out we had to crawl under the table…

one vanilla pod
3 large eggs
150 gram (1/3 lb) sugar
55 gram (1/8 lb) flour
18cl (3/4 cup) creme fraiche
18cl (3/4 cup) milk
pinch of salt
3 cloves of star anise- ground to a powder
3 to 4 William Pears

Preheat the oven at 200°C  (390°F). Scrape the inside of the vanilla pod. Beat 3 eggs until they are “mousy”, add the vanilla, sugar, flour, milk, creme fraiche, star aniseed, salt. Mix thoroughly until homogeneous. Put mixture over prepared pears (clean and pealed, cut into halves) arranged in a dish. Cook in oven for 40 minutes.

Pear and Almond Tart

pears

I didn’t have much candy or chocolate this Easter. Besides eating plenty of herring, eggs and lamb I had some lovely cakes… this one was crunchy and juicy at the same time.

crust
300 ml (1 ¼ cup) flour
100 g (3.5 oz) butter
2 tablespoon sucanat
3 table spoon cold water

filling
2 pears
4-5 tablespoons rum or juice from one lemon
100 g (3.5 oz) butter
4-6 table spoon sucanat
120 ml (½ cup) almonds

Mix the crust ingredients together and let them rest in the fridge for one hour. Place the crust in a greased 9” baking tin and trim to fit. Stick this shell a few times with a fork and pre-bake for 10 minutes at 200º (400F).

Peal and slice the pears thinly. Soak the pear pieces with rum or juice from a lemon. Roast the almonds at 200º (400 F) for about 8-10 minutes. When they have cooled down chop them into smaller pieces. Melt the butter and then add sucanat and the roasted almonds. Divide the soaked pears in the pre-baked shell and pour the filling on top. Bake in the oven at 200º (400F) for about 15-20 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.