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!
Hello
Thank you for sharing this recipe… is there a specific variety of pear you use?
Thank you!
Chani
Hi Chani, any pear will work nicely here. Whatever you can find that is ripe, but still firm.
Hey, could i ask you which function of the oven i should use? I was baking it in 190 degrees witha function of low and upper heating together, but it burnt :( all bottom and sides were burnt.
Hi Laura, you obviously have a much more customizable oven, so I’m guessing you are European. North American ovens pretty much just offer Bake, Broil and maybe, Convection (fan-assisted). Most North American recipes are written for basic “Bake” function, which would be bottom heat only and no fan-assist. So while 190C is the correct temperature, I think using just bottom heat and no fan, should work for you. Hope that helps :)
Hi! This sounds delicious, will it freeze ok?
Hi Jess, I have never frozen it myself. It should freeze fairly well. It’s a lot of fruit in it, which may make for a more moist cake after it’s been frozen, but I don’t know by how much exactly.
Excellent cake! Came out even better than I expected, and the mascarpone gives great depth.
So glad to hear, Marta! Thanks so much :)
This was over the top Amazing!!! I saw the comments so I added a touch of almond extract. Everyone loved it! It was very easy to make. I am going to make another one on Friday! Thank you for this great Recipe!
So glad to hear, Sandra :) Thanks!
Awesome turned out beautiful!
So glad to hear, Angela! Thanks :)
I gave this a go and made it for work colleagues using gluten free flour (1:1 substitution) and a drop of vanilla extract. I don’t think I have ever seen a cake go so quickly in our office. Everyone said I could make this again. I also cut my pear halves into thirds and arranged in a pinwheel pattern as per someone else’s suggestion in the comments.
So glad to hear, Clare! Thanks :)
This cake is truly scrumptious! My pear loving 6 year old decided take a break from them. Normally any leftover pears would turn into a fruit crumble. But this time I was keen to try something new & came across your recipe. The cake was moist and fluffy and so fruity. It was loved by everyone. As mentioned in other comments, I did add 1/2 tsp of almond extract and that only added to the yummy-ness of this cake. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
So glad to hear, Anagha! Thanks so much :)
I don’t know why, but in my house, apples get eaten but pears get admired. So, I had 3 pears that needed to be used and Googled and found your recipe. I read the comments and added 1/8 tsp almond extract, 1/4 tsp vanilla extract and 1/8 tsp salt. It was delicious and not overly sweet. I love that this recipe is so adaptable. I have a friend who is gluten free and will try it that way for my next dinner party. What a pleasure to bake!
So glad you enjoyed it, Cathy and yes, pears are the same way in my house! Thanks!
I made this cake yesterday and was so light and delicious! I discovered I didn’t have almonds for the top of the cake so I used shredded coconut instead and added almond essence from one reader’s suggestion. It turned out great and my husband loved it so this one’s definitely a keeper – thank you!
Sounds lovely, Treena! Thanks :)
I just made this today, and it turned out wonderfully! I wanted to share it with neighbors, so I baked it in 6″ tart pans, so 3 for them and 3 for us! I adjusted the baking temp and time for the smaller sizes, and all is great. The recipe seems to flit from Cups / Tbsp measurements to ounces measurements, so I had to do some Googling for a few conversions. All worked out though. Thank you so much!
So glad you enjoyed it, Katie! Thanks :)
This looks easy and delicious and I plan to make it in the next week. Only on thing want to ask. Did you buy ground almond or you make it yourself. I heard it wasn’t that easy to grind the almonds at home and you are more likely to end up with almond butter. May I know how you did it? Thank you!
Hi Yang, I always buy pre-ground almonds for baking. I just find it easier and only marginally more money than buying blanched almonds and processing my own.
Are ground almonds the same as almond flour?
Hi Tabata, almond flour is generally almond ground to a fine powder, while ground almonds are more coarse in texture. They are generally labelled “ground almonds”. You could also grind blanched almonds yourself in a food processor.
Hi Yang. If you can’t find almond meal, just put almonds in a food processor but don’t just turn the food processor on. If you do, that will give you almond butter. Instead pulse (turn on and off) the food processor for just a second or two each time. If you notice all the fine b powder going to the bottom and very big pieces at the top, mix what is in the food processor from time to time. All of this should only n take a couple minutes at most. Good luck!
It was spectacular! Thank you! My dad in law is not big on cakes but he had nearly half of it!
So glad you all enjoyed it! Thanks :)
Thank you for sharing this recipe Jennifer. Everything from the measurments and method was surprisingly easy. Tasted amazing! Cheers :)
Thanks Noor! So glad you enjoyed it :)
Perfect recipe as had pears remaining to be used. Absolutely delicious cake & so easy to make !! Can we also substitute pears for different fruits next time? Thanks for sharing
Hi May, it would be adaptable to other fruits, but I don’t think all fruits. I’m not sure something like apple would cook much in the short 25 minute bake time. Peaches or other soft fruits might work just fine though. Thanks!
I used frozen plums and it was delicious. My husband liked it more than the pears. Today I’m trying frozen cherries.
So glad you are enjoying it and yes, would be great with any number of fruits! Thanks!