Pear Gingerbread
A simple sweet & spicy cake - the perfect treat for wintry days
It hardly feels like winter has arrived and we’re already forecasted to have a warm spell this weekend. (I’ll be trimming asparagus, planting dormant Camarosa strawberries in my patch’s expansion, and mulching the beds with hay.) I confess to having started a fire in the wood burner a few times this month more for the seasonal ambiance than the heat. Jazzy music playing and wintry treats baking in the oven have helped to prop up the facade of this season. Among them, Pear Gingerbread spices up the days and satisfies the sweet tooth.
Pear Gingerbread Cake Recipe
The sweet pear sauce contrasts the spicy gingerbread nicely in this moist wintry cake. Though this isn’t flashy or piled with frosting, it’s the one my family asks me to bake again the most frequently.
You’re welcome to download this recipe card to your device to save or print. Enjoy!
Ingredients
¾ cup butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves
pinch cardamom
1 cup chunky pear sauce, or applesauce
½ cup milk
½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup molasses
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9 x 13 cake with butter and then give it a dusting of flour to prevent the cake from sticking.
In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and brown sugar together for several minutes while you gather and measure the other ingredients.
In a small bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, wheat flour, baking soda, ginger, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom.
In another bowl measure out the pear sauce, milk, maple syrup, and molasses and whisk them together.
When the butter mixture has lightened, beat in the eggs and vanilla, one at a time, until they’re all incorporated very well.
Alternating back and forth, add the flour mixture and the liquid mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mix.
Pour the batter into the cake pan. If you’d like a lovelier slice of gingerbread, arrange small pear slices over the bread then bake it for 35-45 minutes. When it passes the finger touch test and springs back, transfer it to a rack to cool before serving.