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!
Hey Jennifer!
This cake sounds divine and I’m glad to see above that the recipe can be adapted to be gluten free. My question is, would it work the same using coconut sugar or honey or agave nectar instead of white and or icing sugar do you think? Paleo convert here trying to be good : )
Thanks Michelle :) I wish I could help, but I have absolutely no experience with alternate sweeteners in baking. Sorry.
Easy to make and end result is cafe quality so many compliments will make a bigger one next time
So glad you enjoyed it, Kathy. Thanks!
Hi Jennifer I made this today with a few embellishments of almond extract added to the cake and cinnamon dusted over the pears. I baked at 180 degrees for 38 minutes then a further 7 minutes after adding the almonds. It was just delicious. Thanks so much for sharing.
Sounds lovely! So glad you enjoyed it :)
Would it be possible to make this gluten free? My partners parents would love this but his dad is a coeliac!
Thank you :)
Hi Holly, I’m not an expert on gluten free, but I’m pretty sure you could use any of the “cup-for-cup” gluten free flours to replace the wheat flour in this recipe.
I just finished baking this cake about an hour ago. Luckily I had already had ground almond meal because I remember how difficult it was to find. (Sprouts or Whole Foods) Perfect cake to go with afternoon tea or coffee. Seriously one of the simplest cakes to make and with real wow factor if needing to impress your friends or family. I would highly recommend to make for the holidays.
So glad you enjoyed it, Linda and I agree, easy with wow factor is always a winner :)
I came across your website through Pinterest and OMG I’m so happy i did! I prepared this cake last night for the first time for a small dinner party i threw at my place and we couldn’t believe how scrumptious and easy to prepare it was! I think i’ll try a different version too with apples or plums! THANK YOU FOR SHARING IT! xxx
So glad it worked out so well for you! And yes, it would be great with many different fruits :)
The almond flavoring “paired” well with the fruit. I used red anjou’s and they kept their firmness after baking. It is a nice light cake that truly can be served at anytime of day or occasion.
Another great recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it, Cathy :)
Just wanted to say thanks for such a great recipe, I made it for a friend’s birthday & she loved it so much I forwarded the recipe & she’s made it again herself :)
So glad, Vicki! And thanks to you for coming back to let me know :)
Hi there, if I don’t want to put pear halves right on the cake, but rather slice them and put them in a design around the top, any ideas for a suitable way to do this to still get that pear texture and flavor? Should I add pear chunks in the cake mixture as well?
Hi Kelsey, I’m really not sure. I suspect if you put a pretty design on the top of this cake, it would sink in to the cake just like the pear halves do. You might want to seek another recipe with a firmer batter.
This cake sounds lovely. My father in law has a pear tree that yields very small pears ( the size of a clementine ) from a Minnesota pear tree. Any thoughts on how to adapt them to fit your recipe ? Thank you :)
Hi Rosalie! It just so happens that I picked up some teeny tiny pears recently at the market – they called them Sugar Pears, but they were definitely minis. I made a pear clafouti out of them and they worked beautifully. I didn’t peel them. Just cut in half and used a spoon to scoop out the core bit. I think you could do the same with this cake. Just use more of them! Let me know how it turns out :) – Jennifer
We have a Pear tree in our yard which is producing lovely fruit as we speak! This recipe looks amazing! I’m going out there right now, picking a few ripe ones and making it tonight for my husband.
By the way…I have to tell you…I love the fact that I can “go to recipe” without filtering through a bunch of stuff…although, having said that, I DID read your post!
Cheers
Enjoy the cake, Kathy and how lucky you are to have a pear tree! And yes, I just added that “jump to recipe”. Always nice to have a choice :)
Can I use an 8-inch cake pan if I don’t have a spring-form pan? This cake looks divine!
Hi Liz and yes, you can. You’ll definitely want to line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment paper, so you can get it out of the pan reasonably easily.
Hi Jennifer,
This sounds like an amazing recipe, I would like to try it. About the pears, is it okay if I slice them instead of halving them? We don’t have any corer (is that the right word for it) in the house so is it okay if I slice the pears as one would slice apples for an apple pie?
Thank you!
Hi Ivo, While you could certainly slice the pears if you like, I fear that the cake may lose a bit of it’s character, as the pear will most likely disappear into the cake. You don’t need a corer for the pears. Once halved, simply use a kitchen teaspoon to scoop out the seedy bit (doesn’t have to be pretty, as the cored side is placed down, so will sink into the cake ;)
Hi Jennifer,
This is great cake recipe! My little girl likes cake and Almond, and this recipe is for her. She will love this. Also I shared on my facebook page.
Thank you so much
-Murshid
Hi Jennifer,
Recipe sounds wonderful. 2 quick questions: 1) To what degree/texture are the almonds “ground”? Power? Flour? Course black pepper? etc? 2) 3 1/2 oz ground almonds = ? in cup. Slightly less than 1/2 C? Thanks so much.
Hi Debbie. The almonds should be cornmeal texture. 3.5 oz is a scant cup (between 3/4 and a cup). Enjoy!
Great – thanks Jennifer!
Jennifer – just want to give you an update. I’m not a baker and was asked to bring dessert to Christmas. Uggh! I was apprehensive about this cake because of the ground almonds and my spring-form pan was 10″. While I was prepared to ground whole almonds to the cornmeal consistency you suggested, imagine my joy at finding ground almonds at Whole Foods. Whoo Hoo! Gotta tell ya, the 10″ made no difference. Yes, while obviously a thinner cake, the texture was amazing, the flavor was fabulous and the actual assembly of making the cake was well … a piece of cake. Not a piece left over and several requests for the recipe which I’m more than happy to share; simply because it drives more viewers to your blog. Thanks so much!
So glad to hear, Debbie! Glad you found ground almonds. I always buy them pre-ground myself, but thought you were just wanting to start with whole almonds. And so glad the 10-inch pan worked so well and everyone enjoyed it. Thanks so much for coming back to let me know :)