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
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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!
Made this yesterday! It is delicious – thank you so much for the recipe. Great winter dessert and it’s simple enough to make!
So glad you enjoyed it, Nicole :) Thanks!
I added ground and crystallized ginger + a little almond extract. Delicious!
So glad to hear, Susanna! Thanks :)
I just made this cake. It’s still cooling. Mine turned out rather thin and flat. Is it supposed to be thin—-like 1” thin? If not I either screwed up or my baking powder is dead. Still looks and smells great though. Just curious how thin/thick it should be?
Hi Julie, it’s not a super thick cake, so it’s probably fine :)
Just made this cake for a second time and realized I never responded earlier. The cake IS on the thinner side but tastes so delicious. This time I added about 1/4 cup diced pears to the batter itself and it was so good! I also subbed 1/4 cup of wheat flour for regular (kept the total amount of flour the same) and it’s great. I think next time I’ll add a touch of cardamom. Anyway, great recipe.
So glad to hear, Julie :) Thanks so much!
I made this for a Friendsgiving this year and it was big hit. I wanted to do something a little different than the typical pumpkin or apple pie, and this was the perfect thing without being overly complicated. I didn’t have ground almonds so I used 1/2 cup almond paste, and reduced the amount of white sugar to 6 tbsp to accommodate the sugar in the almond paste. It came out moist and delicious!
So glad to hear, Claire :) Thanks!
Just finished tasting this delicious cake. I used Stevia in lieu of sugar. I dusted it with a little powdered sugar then sprinkled a tad of cinnamon…just because I love it! It turned out great but did not use the cream because I couldn’t locate the ingredients. I’ll try it again with a bit less Stevia and use almond flour instead of all-purpose. Thanks for the recipe and all tips.
So glad you enjoyed it, Rose :) Thanks!
hi
Is it just me or did the metric convertor button disappear ? IF so , would it be possible to reinstate it onto your amazing website as it was great and Ive used it before .
Thanks
LP
Hi Louisa, yes, it did disappear. I discovered that my recipe card wasn’t calculating the metric conversions correctly. As you can imagine, that can have some really nasty consequences, especially when baking. So I’ve turned it off on some recipes for now. I do like to provide that option though, so I’m looking for an easy, more accurate solution. Stay tuned :)
Made this tonight. Fantastic! Pears were perfect. I halved them, then cut each half in thirds placing pieces around like a pinwheel. It came out looking like a gorgeous flower. Added 1/2 tsp almond extract. Only had enough flaked almonds for half the topping called for in the recipe so added some crystal sugar which added to the crunch. Used a fluted ceramic tart dish 9.5 inch. It came out great. The parchment liner may not have been necessary with this tart dish and I’ll try next time without it. Passing this site (and the recipe of course) to daughter! Thank you!
Sound lovely, Maggie :) So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks!
Hello Jennifer
This recipe looks elegant and delicious; I would love to make it for my father’s birthday. I would like to accommodate his egg allergy. I understand that eggs may serve different purposes in different dishes and that would dictate the appropriate substitution, if any.
How would you advise replacing the eggs in this treat?
Thank you!
Hi Gi, I haven’t tried this, but Google tells me you could possibly replace the 2 eggs in this recipe with 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce plus 1/2 tsp baking powder. If you try this, let me know how it works out :)
I am making this cake for Friday and Sunday so I doubled the recipe. Would you suggest baking both cakes and refrigerating the cake for Sunday or just refrigerate the batter till Sunday and bake then?
Hi Chelsea, that’s a tough one! I’m thinking it might be best to bake both, then refrigerate the baked cake until Sunday.
Hello Jennifer,
This looks like an elegant and delicious treat. I would love to make it for my father’s birthday.
He has an egg allergy that I must accommodate.
How would you advise that I replace the eggs? I understand eggs can serve different purposes in baking and that would dictate the appropriate substitution, if any.
Thank you!
Love this recipe! I have made it 4 or 5 times. I am about to make it again, but I can’t use butter. What do you think would be a good substitute for this recipe?
I think it would have to be oil – vegetable, canola or sunflower for example. And I did some math and looks like you would substitute 6 3/4 Tbsp oil for the 9 Tbsp butter. The resulting cake will be lighter, with a bit different crumb, but should taste fine. Let me know how it works out.
Hey Jennifer, I decided to use applesauce for the butter and it turned out excellent! I made a gluten free version as well! It was a hit! Thanks for this awesome recipe!
Hey Kaity, I’d also like to make the cake without butter. I assumed I’d have to substitute with oil but applesauce would be a much preferable alternative… How much applesauce did you use, and did you have to make any other changes to the recipe (i.e. amount of liquid)?
Kaity, yes…how much applesauce did you use? I have a whole bunch of pears right now so I’m thinking if I made some “pear sauce” it would up the pear flavor in the cake also. <3
Hey Liz and Ellie, sorry for the late response. I just used 1/2 cup of applesauce instead of the butter. It turned out great!
I like the pear sauce idea :)
This cake became one of our favourite desserts! Thank you! When the pears are ripe and juicy it is the best combination. It is so easy as well!
Thanks so much, Julia :)
I made this yesterday for company with donated pears from a friend. Delicious! Easy too. My cake was a little burned on the edge I think I over greased the pan. I’ll watch that next time. I did add a tsp of almond essence as we like the frangipane flavour. Thank you
So glad to hear, Sandra! If you are baking with dark pans, that could be the cause of your burnt edges as well. I have that problem all the time, even though I should remember :) If so, turning back the temperature a bit (20-25 degrees) and keeping the same or slightly less baking time might help there.
Hi there; I’m dying to try your recipe out, our tree is dropping it’s pears now and they need using up ! Hubby would like me to follow your recipe but the only cake tins I have are 26cm diameter (germans like their cakes on the large size!!)…..should I just double up all ingredients and hope for the best????? Thanks in advance from a beginner cake maker!
Hi Jane! Yes you would definitely want to at least 1 1/2 times (or double) the recipe for a 26cm pan. Alternately, if you have an 20cm (8-inch) regular round cake pan and you aren’t super concerned with pretty slices, you could line one of those with parchment and just slice it out of the pan. As I mentioned, you won’t get the prettiest slices (especially the first one ;), but just as tasty! Obviously, cooking time may be different if you double, so watch closely and test often.
Thanks for your prompt reply, much appreciated!!! I’ll be giving it a go before Saturday (hopefully) and will report back!!
Hi Jane,
How did it go? I only have a 10” Springform pan and a 9.5” regular round pan. Would love to hear any lessons learned before I jump in. (I, too, am a less experienced baker…!)
I just love pears and so look forward to such a lovely cake. Cannot wait
to try it ?
Thanks Carol! Enjoy :)
Amazing recipe! I actually made it and took it camping, it lasted 4 days in an air tight container (with no cool box) and we had it for breakfast every day with coffee, it will still perfect by the last day!
So glad to head, Bobbie! Thanks :)
I made this cake for a northern Italy themed dinner party last night and it was fantastic! Added a teaspoon of almond extract to the batter which intensified the almond flavor (which I love). My pears weren’t fully ripe yet but they still softened up beautifully in the cake. Also made the mascarpone to go with it. Didn’t have sweet Marsala so subbed a teaspoon of bourbon vanilla and it was perfect – the mascarpone turned out to be my husband’s favorite part. Thanks for the unique and delicious recipe!
So glad to hear, Brittany! And I love the addition of the mascarpone, too. Just takes it to a whole new level :)