Pear and Almond Cake

Written by Becky
I have this beautiful garden cookbook sitting on my shelf that shows each recipe in detailed watercolored illustrations. The chapters are broken up into seasons so as I flip to autumn recipes and I easily found this beautiful recipe for Pear and Almond Cake. I’ve made it twice since finding it, once with pear and once with peaches. Both versions created lovely moist and fragrant cakes, perfect for an afternoon snack with warm tea or cider or light dessert.

This weekend was packed with fun, from Josh playing in a singer songwriter song-swap, to having several meals with friends. We enjoyed delicious polenta lasagna made by my friend Joy and ‘too large to fit in your mouth’ sandwiches while sitting on the patio at Caputo’s on 15th and 15th.  My favorite part of the weekend was simply working in the garden.
Preparing the garden for winter can be sad as we took down each tomato plant and most of our fresh herbs.  I was sad to see the garden so bare, left with only the hardy twigs of our rosemary plant. But the hopeful part of preparing a garden for the winter is always fall planting.  We planted 30%2B daffodils for the spring and about 10 lovely purple bulbs of garlic. Now, there is a little something special to look forward to after the cold winter months pass us by.
This cake is like a last bite of the harvest season as the taste and smell of roasted fruit burst through each bite.  The almond meal and grated pear add a perfect texture to the little cakes. Serve them up with fruit and fresh whipped cream for the pure taste of harvest at its peak.
Pear and Almond Cake

Yield: makes 1 8x4 in. loaf or a dozen small cakes

Ingredients

  • 7 Tb butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 Tb cream cheese or Greek yogurt
  • 1 med. crisp pear or peach, peeled, cored, and grated (about 1/2 cup grated)
  • 1/2 cup almond meal
  • 1 cup self rising flour (or 1 cup flour plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder)
  • 1/8 tsp salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a 8 x 4 inch loaf pan or mini cake pan.
  2. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a tablespoon of the flour mixture if the mixture curdles. Beat in the cream cheese or yogurt and the pear or peach. Gradually fold in the flour and almond meal. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 55 minutes (about 40 if your making the individual mini cakes.
  3. Top with fresh whipped cream and sliced pear or peaches.

Notes

by the Painted Garden Cookbook

https://www.thevintagemixer.com/pear-and-almond-cake/

Comments (5)

  1. I'm usually tired of the garden come fall, so I don't miss picking vegetables, but the herbs are so nice to dress up a picture, I really miss them. I love that you planted bulbs, mine make me so happy when they come up in the spring. The cake sounds wonderful.

  2. These cakes are a lovely way to tip our hats to the waning harvest season. It sounds as though you had a wonderful weekend!

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