Ingredients: |
Ingredients: TOPPING
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp syrup from jar of preserved ginger, or 2 tbsp corn syrup
1 small lemon
3 large, firm ripe pears
CAKE
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp syrup from jar of preserved ginger or 2 tbsp corn syrup
4 pieces preserved ginger
3/4 cup cake and pastry flour
3/4 cup finely ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
sliced almonds
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Directions: |
Directions:1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter sides of a deep 9 inch cake pan. Do not use a spring-form pan.
2. To make topping, melt butter in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add sugar and syrup. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally until mixture is a deep caramel color, about 4 to 5 minutes. Immediately scrape into cake pan. Swirl mixture to evenly coat bottom.
3. Squeeze juice from lemon into a medium size bowl. Peel and core pears. Thinly slice pears and place in lemon juice, turning them in juice to coat and prevent discoloration. Arrange slices in caramel in pan, overlapping slices to form in a spiral pattern.
4. To make cake with an electric mixer (food processor method is below) place butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat on high speed until butter is soft. Add sugar and beat on medium until well blended, about 1 minute. Beat in eggs and syrup. Finely chop ginger and set aside.
5. In a small bowl, blend flour with almonds and baking powder using a fork. Pour flour mixture into egg mixture. Mix on low speed just until flour is incorporated. Then, stir in chopped ginger.
6. Spoon batter over pears in pan, covering pears completely. Bake in centre of preheated oven until cake is a rich brown and begins to pull away form the sides of pan, about 45 minutes.
7. Place cake on a rack and allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Run a thin knife between cake and sides of pan to loosen. Place a large cake plate over pan. Holding plate firmly in place, turn pan upside down, so cake slides down onto plate. Leave pan in place for a minute, so syrup runs over cake.
8. Arrange sliced almonds over ginger cake in a decorative fashion if you wish. Serve hot, warm or cold with shipped cream or ice cream. |
Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: To make cake batter in a food processor, place butter, sugar and ginger pieces in a processor fitted with a metal blade. Process until mixture forms a ball. Add eggs and syrup and pulse until blended. Mixture may appear curdled. In a small bowl, mix together remaining ingredients using a fork. Pour into egg mixture. Pulse again, just until blended. Make sure you don't overmix.
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This recipe for Almond Pear Ginger Cake is from