This delicious pear custard cake is made with fresh pear, making for an easy, delicious and pretty Fall dessert. Lovely served slightly warm with a dollop of whipped or ice cream.
This lovely pear cake is a simple, delicious and pretty dessert, perfect for a Fall dessert. I love to bake desserts like this in a cast iron skillet (or several smaller ones), but you can also bake this up in one larger baking dish, or several wide/shallow ramekins.
I love this type of dessert and it’s especially lovely with fresh pears. I think this one falls somewhere between a clafouti and a Dutch Baby and while it’s called a cake, it is really only used in the loosest of ways. It’s definitely in the custard flavour profile, so if you are a fan of warm custard and fruit, you will absolutely love this one. It’s lovely served slightly warm with a dollop of whipped or ice cream.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Pears – Bartlett pears are specified, but any pear will work here. Look for pears that are ripe but still firm.
Maple Syrup – the recipe calls for just a small amount of maple syrup. If you don’t have the real thing on hand, you can substitute maple flavoured pancake syrup.
Recipe Tips
When it comes to the pears, I love to leave the skin on. They are so pretty and the skin is not an issue to eat. You can leave your pears whole or cut each half in to slices and fan them out into pretty patterns. Be sure to remove the thin woody spin leading up to the stem, along with coring the centre of the pear with a spoon. I love to keep the stem on for presentation, but of course, you won’t be eating that :)
Variations
Looking to change it up? Substitute apples for the pears!
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Get the Recipe: Pear Custard Cake
Ingredients
- 2-4 ripe Bartlett Pears, (red are nice if you can find some)
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 4 large eggs
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 Tbsp salted butter, diced
- 1 Tbsp icing/confectioners sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Cut pears in half and core with a spoon, also removing the woody spine leading up to the stem. (You can cook pears in halves or cut each half in to slices and arrange them in a fan pattern). Toss in lemon juice and set aside.
- Grease a skillet (or several smaller skillets), an 11x7-inch baking dish, or several wider/shallow ramekins. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and sugar. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, maple syrup and vanilla. Whisk egg milk mixture in to flour mixture until combined.
- Arrange pears in prepared baking dishes (I like to put a cored half pear in the centre, if space permits, with sliced pears around the outside OR cut cored half pears in to slices and arrange in fan patterns). Pour batter over-top, filling your shallow baking dish to about 2/3 full or to cover a half pear by about 2/Dot the top with diced butter. Place baking dish on to a baking sheet (just in case!).
- Bake in preheated 375 oven until pears are tender and custard is puffed, set and golden, about 45 minutes.
- Sprinkle with some icing sugar and place under oven broiler until bubbly and glazed, about 1 minute. Let cool on a rack for 15 minutes before serving. Lovely served slightly warmed with a dollop of whipped or ice cream.
More Pear Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
This is the first recipe I’ve tried from your blog and I was impressed with how easily it came together. Lucked out with some perfect pears. I was entertaining some strictly gluten-free family so sub’d good quality 1-to-1 GF flour mix, and also added some almond extract to bring up the almond flavor. My pan options were a 9″ spring form, or an 8″ tart pan (shallow, fluted sides, removable bottom), and opted for the latter. Got some spillage because it was too shallow, which only effected my oven and not the tart. I ended lowering the temp a bit and cooking a bit longer to get the middle well set. I mixed up some mascarpone with orange zest, powdered sugar, and a little cream to thin. It was excellent, and even better with coffee this morning. I think next time I may make it the day before!Â
I also really appreciate that you have the metric weights. Enjoying your blog — it’s new to me and I found it searching for “almond cake”! Based on this result I will be exploring your other recipes. Thank you!
Hi Pat and welcome! So glad you enjoyed this pear cake. Thanks slo much :)
Hello Jennifer, this looks like a delicious cake; I just love custard. Pears are an unusual addition and I think it might be marvelous. But you say to put the pears in the bottom and then add the cake mixture. Then how is it your picture shows the pears on top? I love the look of them on top and would be very happy to learn that one should put the pears on the top of the cake mixture. Is that correct or do the pears rise to the top somehow? Thank you for sharing the recipe and for any feedback you wish to give me.
Hi Sharon and rest assured, if you put the pears on the bottom, per the recipe, the pears will definitely show. This “cake” is really just a puffy custard mixture, which is very thin, so there is no way that the pears won’t be visible here. Do enjoy!