Pear Cake

Last night I prepared what I thought would be a very easy recipe for pear cake.  In fact, it is a very easy recipe, and under normal circumstances, it would have been a breeze.  However, the space in which I prepared it was there to thwart my every move, it seemed.  You see, I am moving and the apartment is in disarray, including the kitchen.  My experience last night reminded me of the first time I used this kitchen, new to me.  What a mess.  I did a lot of dishes.

Despite it all, the cake turned out fabulous.  It's sweet, rich, buttery, and has a touch of carmelization on the top and sides, and contains some delicious bosc pears I got in my CSA share last week.  The recipe calls for small seckel pears, which I also like, but I had the boscs so there you are.  Since boscs are twice the size of seckels, I used half the number pears suggested (three instead of six).

I've shared the cake with two people now and both loved it.  I love it, too.  It's delicious.

The other change I made was to use half whole wheat pastry flour and half all purpose, simply because I only had a half cup of whole wheat pastry flour on hand.

Cele's Old-Fashioned Pear Cake Recipe
from 101 Cookbooks

1/2 cup unsalted butter (8 oz), at room temperature, plus 2 tablespoons melted
All-purpose flour for dusting
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
6 firm but ripe small pears such as Seckel, cored and cut lengthwise into quarters

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Brush a 9-inch round springform pan with the 2 tablespoons melted butter, and dust the pan with a thin, even layer of flour, tapping out the excess. Set aside.

Whisk together the whole-wheat pastry flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat together the 1/2 cup butter and the sugar on high speed until pale, light, and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs, and beat again until well combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients just until combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and neatly arrange the peat quarters on top, skin side up. Bake for about 1 hour, or until the top is nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 10 to 15 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Serves 10.