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!
Hi Jennifer
Have you tried doubling the recipe and how would that affect cooking times both for cake and for adding almonds?
Thanks
Kim
Hi Kim, First, no I haven’t doubled this recipe. When you say “doubling”, what are you aiming for? A taller cake? To feed more people? If you let me know your motivation, I can probably be more help :)
Hi Jennifer
I’d like a taller cake to feed more people. I’d guess it will need another 10-15 minutes to cook. I’ll try and let you know!
Thanks
Kim
Hi Kim, i personally would make two cakes to feed more people. While a short cake as written, it is the ratio of pear to cake that makes it a great cake in my opinion. When doubled in the same size pan, you will double the cake part but only have the same size top on which to place the pears, so the ratio will be off. Again, my choice would be to make two cakes and serve wider, shorter slices. Not all cakes need to be tall :)
Can you use frozen pears? I want to make this cake fresh for thanksgiving, but my pears are ready right now.
Hi Angela, I haven’t tried this at all, but my gut says frozen pears would be ok. If you bake from frozen, allow extra cooking time, for sure.
I doubled the batch however the cake turned out soggy. Not sure what I did wrong, also I used Almond flour.
Hi Marie, Almond flour is not the same as ground almonds. It’s much finer and probably the source of your soggy problem.
Delicious! My new favorite! So pretty, moist, not too sweet-love love
So glad you enjoyed it, Julie! Thanks :)
The whole family loved it!
So glad to hear, Lucia! Thanks :)
Hello! I just happened to have 3 pears that I peeled, cored and cut into chunks. Could I use the pears that way, just topped on the batter? It probably won’t look as pretty but should still work I hope? Thanks much!
Absolutely fine Jane. Just scatter them on top and press into the batter just slightly. Will still be very tasty :)
Do you use ground roasted or Raw almonds in this recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Carol, you want to use the ground raw (also called blanched) almonds.
This is a delicious cake. I’ll put this in my favourites. Thankyou.
So glad you enjoyed it, Virginia! Thanks :)
Amazing recipe! I decided to double the cake portion of the recipe, with 2 tsp of almond extract and 1 tsp of vanilla extract and 3 extra tbs of sugar since I like it on the sweeter side. Absolutely wonderful flavor and texture. Thank you soo much!!
Thanks so much, Melinda! So glad you enjoyed it :)
Made this yesterday and we love the flavors! I followed the recipe BUT I used almond flour instead of all purpose flour. Another hit…thank you♥️
So glad to hear, Carol and good to know it works well with almond flour, as well. Thanks!
What is the best type of pear to use in this recipe?
Hi Sharon, I have used all kinds of pears in this from Packham, to D’Anjou or Bartlett or even red pears or Bosc. They all work well, so go with the one that you like to eat maybe. You do want to make sure that the pears are ripe, but still firm when you are ready to bake. Enjoy!
Just made this today and I had to physically restrain my husband to keep him grabbing a 3rd slice!! It was absolutely delicious and perfect for this time of year!
Lol! Glad he is enjoying it :) Thanks Colleen.
Hi Jennifer this looks amazing! Can I check that when you say ‘all purpose flour’ this means plain flour? The recipe doesn’t require self raising?
Hi Rachel and yes, it is plain flour. You’ll find that very few Canadian/American recipes use self raising flour and if they did, they would definitely specify it that way, by name. Self raising flour is available here, it is just rarely used in recipes. Hope that helps and enjoy the cake :)
Do you only cut the pears in half once or are the pear halves sliced?
Hi Olivia, the pears are just cut in half once, so the pear half is placed like that on top of the batter.
Hi – May I use tinned pears instead of fresh?
I have never tried it Zara. While you certainly could, I’m not completely sure they will hold their shape the same way fresh peaches do. So it may not be as pretty, but no doubt still tasty :)