It's definitely that time of the year. Time for comfort cakes, with a hint of spice, very early promise of coming Christmas, although shops all around us have a little different than subtle reminder of coming Christmas and shopping craze they always count on... Let me enjoy the Fall and all it has to offer, it's barely after Halloween and not even after Thanksgiving... Well, I haven't seen Coca-Cola light up trucks commercial on TV yet, so Christmas season hasn't officially started, not for me anyway ;)
Going back to our cake today. It was absolutely amazing. All the different textures (soft at the bottom, juicy pears in the middle and crunchy crumble topped with sticky and sweet syrup). The cake is sweet, spicy, little tangy from the pears -> perfect! OK, I have to admit, that there is a little bit of work involved in this one, but believe me, it is well worth it. Once you've read the recipe till the very end (it is always a good thing to do, but especially on this occasion), once you've prepared all the ingredients ahead of prepping, have them at hand on your worktop, this cake won't look as scary to make, as it might seem.
.JPG "pear and hazelnut cake")
The recipe isn't mine (although I would love to take credit for something SO good, but you give credit when its due, simple as that). This stunner of a cake was created by Nigel Slater, a very trusted person when it comes to baking or cooking. None of his recipes I already tried have ever failed me, and I highly doubt that there will be a day that it will ever happen... So, gather your pears, prepare that baking tin and then enjoy that well deserved cake!
- Beat the butter and sugars in a mixer until light (5-10 minutes).
- Blitz the flour and butter to crumbs in a food processor.
Smacznego!
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Going back to our cake today. It was absolutely amazing. All the different textures (soft at the bottom, juicy pears in the middle and crunchy crumble topped with sticky and sweet syrup). The cake is sweet, spicy, little tangy from the pears -> perfect! OK, I have to admit, that there is a little bit of work involved in this one, but believe me, it is well worth it. Once you've read the recipe till the very end (it is always a good thing to do, but especially on this occasion), once you've prepared all the ingredients ahead of prepping, have them at hand on your worktop, this cake won't look as scary to make, as it might seem.
The recipe isn't mine (although I would love to take credit for something SO good, but you give credit when its due, simple as that). This stunner of a cake was created by Nigel Slater, a very trusted person when it comes to baking or cooking. None of his recipes I already tried have ever failed me, and I highly doubt that there will be a day that it will ever happen... So, gather your pears, prepare that baking tin and then enjoy that well deserved cake!
I made very few changes to the original recipes, I simply veganize it - swapping dairy and eggs for their plant based alternatives.
How to make it...
Ingredients:
For the pears:
- 1 large, juicy lemon
- 750 g pears
- 3 tablespoons caster sugar
- pinch of ground cinnamon
- 1 large, juicy lemon
- 750 g pears
- 3 tablespoons caster sugar
- pinch of ground cinnamon
For the cake:
- 175 g vegan butter, softened
- 85 g golden caster sugar
- 85 g light muscovado sugar
- 80 g skinned hazelnuts
- 2 flax eggs (2 tablespoon ground flax seeds and 6 tablespoon water, whisk together until thick and foamy)
- 165 g self-raising flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- few drops vanilla extract
- 175 g vegan butter, softened
- 85 g golden caster sugar
- 85 g light muscovado sugar
- 80 g skinned hazelnuts
- 2 flax eggs (2 tablespoon ground flax seeds and 6 tablespoon water, whisk together until thick and foamy)
- 165 g self-raising flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- few drops vanilla extract
For the crumble:
- 100 g plain flour
- 75 g vegan butter
- 2 tablespoons demerara sugar
- a little cinnamon and extra demerara sugar
- Preheat the oven to 170 C. Line the base of a 21-22 cm square tin with baking parchment.
- 100 g plain flour
- 75 g vegan butter
- 2 tablespoons demerara sugar
- a little cinnamon and extra demerara sugar
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170 C. Line the base of a 21-22 cm square tin with baking parchment.
- Squeeze the lemon into a mixing bowl.
- Peel the pears, core them and cut them into small chunks, dropping them into the juice.
- Put them and the juice into a saucepan, bring to the boil and turn down to a gentle simmer.
- Scatter over the sugar and cinnamon.
- Let the pears cook, with the occasional stir, until translucent, tender and soft.
- Set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugars in a mixer until light (5-10 minutes).
- Toast the nuts in a shallow pan till golden brown then grind quite finely.
- Beat the flax eggs gently and add to the mix with the beater on slow.
- Fold in the nuts, flour, cinnamon and vanilla.
- When all is smooth, scoop into the tin and smooth flat.
- Lift the pears from their syrup with a draining spoon, reserving the juice.
- Put the pears on top of the cake mixture.
- Blitz the flour and butter to crumbs in a food processor.
- Add the demerara and mix.
- Remove the bowl from the stand.
- Add a few drops of water.
- Run a fork through so some of the crumbs stick together.
- Scatter this loosely over the top, followed by a pinch of cinnamon and a little demerara.
- Bake for about an hour, checking for doneness with a skewer.
- Remove from the oven.
- Bring the juice from the pears to the boil for a few minutes till there are 3 or 4 tbsp left.
- Trickle over the cake. Let cool.
Smacznego!
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Have you made any of my recipes? Tag @anulaskitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #anulaskitchen
Yummy, this sounds delicious. going to make this today, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSimon
Thank you. One of my favorite! :)
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