A lovely pear cake, made with fresh pears, nestled in a lightly sweet and moist almond cake. A perfect cake to enjoy any time of day.
This lovely pear cake is not a cake with pears in it. It’s pears with some cake in it. It is classically Italian. It features 3 pears, peeled and halved that are placed on top of a thick batter flavoured with ground almonds. As it bakes, the pears sink in to the cake, just barely peeking out the top by the time it’s fully cooked. For the last few minutes of baking, it’s topped with a generous layer of sliced almonds, just to heighten the almond flavour.
This cake is lovely, moist and light, owing to the large amount of fruit. It’s also lightly sweetened, so it’s perfect to enjoy any time of day. For a special dessert, serve it topped with a dollop of whipped cream.
Ingredient Notes
Here are the simple ingredients you will need …
- Pears – If you can’t find fresh pears, canned or jarred pear halves would also work in this cake. For fresh pears, start with pears that are ripe, but still have firmness to them.
- Butter – you can use salted or unsalted butter. If using unsalted, you may want to add a small pinch of salt to the batter.
- White granulated sugar
- Eggs (2)
- All purpose flour – haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour, though I suspect a cup-for-cup gluten free flour should work here. I haven’t tested with almond flour.
- Ground almonds – not almond flour, which is more finely ground. Ground almonds have the texture of cornmeal and are easily found in the baking section of most grocery stores. Alternately, you can process whole blanched almonds in a food processor.
- Baking powder
- Flaked almonds – also known as sliced almonds
- Icing sugar, for garnish
Recipe Video
Cook’s Notes
- Prepare the pears by first peeling, then slicing in half from the stem end to the bottom. Use a small spoon to scoop out the seeds and also remove the thin, tough spine that runs up to the stem end.
- As this cake is very moist and mostly pear, it is best enjoyed shortly on the day of baking.
- Enjoy this cake on its own or with a dollop of whipped cream. For a really special dessert, try some mascarpone, mixed with a bit of powdered sugar to sweeten and flavoured with a little orange zest.
- You can refrigerate any left-overs to stretch it to the next day.
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Get the Recipe: Italian Pear Almond Cake
Ingredients
- 9 Tablespoons (125 g) butter, salted or unsalted, at room temperature. If using unsalted, add a small pinch of salt to the batter (1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon)
- 9 Tablespoons (125 g) white granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 6 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon (50 g) all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups (100 g) ground almonds, not almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 medium pears, ripe, but still firm, peeled, cored and halved lengthwise
- 1/3 cup (50 g) flaked almonds
- Icing/confectioners' sugar, for garnish
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375° F. (not fan assisted)
- Grease an 8-inch springform pan and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and white sugar together at medium speed until pale in colour and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the bowl between eggs (be sure to get all the way to the bottom of the bowl, where unincorporated butter can hide.. With the mixer on low, mix in the all purpose flour, ground almonds and baking powder. Spoon the batter into the prepared springform pan and use a spatula to even out the mixture. (Batter will be thick and fill the pan only to about an inch thick).
- Prepare pears, by peeling, then cutting in half from the stem end to the bottom. Use a small spoon to remove the core and also scrape away the thick spine that runs up to the stem end. Set aside.
- Arrange the pear halves in a circle on the top, cut side down and with the thin end towards the centre of the cake. Sprinkle flaked almonds over-top. Bake in pre-heated 375° oven for about 35 minutes, or until the cake tests clean when a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake.
- Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin, then run a knife around the outside and carefully remove the ring and base. Dust with icing/confectioners' sugar before serving.
Notes
More Pear Cake Recipes You Might Like …
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!
Delicious! We made this for my brother’s birthday and everyone enjoyed it. We substituted coconut flour for the all-purpose flour to make it gluten free and that turned out great – didn’t even leave a coconut flavour whatsoever. Next time I want to try 1/4 tsp of almond extract. Also found 35 minutes was too long so next time we will set the timer to 30.
So glad you all enjoyed it, Brooke! Thanks so much :)
Great recipe, easy to make and delicious…. took a bit longer to cook maybe 45 mins.
So glad you enjoyed it, Sue! Thanks so much :)
I love this recipe. It is simple to make and always a hit. Especially great in pear season. Thank you.
So glad you are enjoying it, Candy :) Thanks so much!
Excellent! Changed nothing. Will this cake hold up if frozen? Thank you for this delicious recipe.
So glad to hear, Nancy :) I have not frozen this cake. I worry a bit about the large amount of fruit and how it will hold up with the freeze/thaw process. I probably wouldn’t make then freeze to serve later, but I’m always willing to gamble a bit for leftovers. Sometimes they surprise me!
This cake was delicious and beautiful! I made it for a party and everyone loved it. Some went back for seconds. I can’t wait to make it again for more friends and family. It was so easy to make and impresses guests. I lucked out getting perfectly ripe bartletts at the store. Envious of all the people who have their own pear trees. Thank you for the recipe and notes.
I’m so glad to hear, Marisa and yes, great luck with the Bartletts. I sometimes think they’re a little like avocados in that you have to wait for them, then they are only ripe for a second :) Thanks!
Wonderful recipe!!
Thanks Jola!
Wonderful cake I will make again and again. I was worried about the instruction not to make the cake in advance – to make it the day you plan to serve it. In my experience, dense cakes like this one are much better the next day – the moisture seeps into the entire cake and the flavor really blooms. I followed the instructions and wish I hadn’t – the cake was OK the first day, nothing special, but by the second day on the counter top it was amazing! Rich and dense and moist – the pear flavor permeated the entire cake but the pears still maintained their form. I used red pears and left the skin on. This is a jewel of a recipe, just let it rest for day!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Abbie! Red pears are generally more firm and have less moisture, so your experience may not extend to very ripe or softer pear types such as Bartlett, which is what I generally use. I find the cake made with softer pears doesn’t necessarily improve the 2nd day :)
Hi Jennifer! TY for your answer – this makes total sense and I appreciate the explanation. I will make a note so I doin’t make this mistake again. TY again for the wonderful recipe!
Hi. I am so glad to see metric measurements in your recipes. Thank you for all the delicious recipes you share with us. Much appreciated.
Thanks Helen :) I haven’t got the metric added to all the recipes, but I’m working on it!
Living in Canada, I am still trying to figure out the measurements to cut off my pound of butter. (9 tbsp !!!)
Hi Erica, Sadly, I can’t change the recipe to make it easier to measure :) 9 Tbsp is 1/2 cup (1 stick) + 1 Tbsp, if that helps, or I highly recommend a kitchen scale for times like these, as it is very easy to weigh out the 125g.
Hi Jennifer, my family is all about almonds and pears and I can’t wait to make this cake for them! One question: are the sliced almonds roasted or raw? TY!
Hi Abbie, the almonds used are raw (I think they are actually blanched, but they are the ones you typically find in the baking aisle nuts). Enjoy the cake!
I’ve been making this cake for many years, probably at least 50 times. It’s pretty much the OG of Italian Pear cake recipes on the web. Back then, it was the only recipe that I could find. Since then, it’s been copied A LOT, but nothing comes close to this recipe. It’s the absolute best (and pretty authentic Italian) almond pear cake recipe around – bar none. I should know, because I’ve tried many others, and none comes close. I do still make a slightly sweetened with powdered sugar orange mascarpone (no Marsala – not a fan) to serve with it because I just love the combination. The only minor tweak I’ve made over the years is to add 1/4 tsp of almond extract to the batter. That’s it, and only because I really love almonds. Folks, look no further, this is the one, so print it, write it down, or memorize it because it’s the only one you’ll ever need.
Thanks so much, Megan :) It is absolutely my favourite way to enjoy pear season! Thanks so much.
Anyone have frozen this cake before? I make German apple cake and they freeze well, not sure about pear though.
Delicious cake! Baked it twice, guests loved it and asked for the recipe each time. I reduced the sugar to 110 g and it was perfect. Keeper for me, thanks for sharing.
So glad to hear, Connie :) Thanks so much!
Fast and easy to make. Ground my almonds in food processor day before and it came together so quickly. If I could I’d give it 10 stars. I also added a tsp of almond extract.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much :)
If I have no baking powder may I substitute flour for self-raising flour or even mix self raising flour with flour.
Self raising flour contains 1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder for each 100g of flour
Hi Nicolas, with the small amount of flour specified, you would only be adding approx. 1/4 tsp of baking powder, which is a bit short of the 1/2 tsp specified. My feeling is it will work out if you use the self-raising in place of the AP flour. The cake may not rise quite as much, but with this cake, I think that it would still be ok.
I found this recipe in 2019 and have made it on many occasions. Ive used almond flour instead of ground almonds with great success. It’s always a hit.
The 2019 version had an optional mascarpone,Marsala, orange cream topping recipe. I prefer it with simple powdered sugar.
Thank you for this delicate and scrumptious dessert.
Thanks Jean and yes, I enjoy this one more simply, as well (so I dropped the mascarpone topping :)
Looks delicious. Could I make it using oil instead of butter?
Hi Jan and the best I can say is “maybe”. Obviously oil won’t “cream” with the sugar in the same way butter does. That said, with this cake, it may still work, as there are also eggs and baking powder to contribute to the texture. I haven’t tested it, so I can’t say for sure. If you try it, let me know how it works out.