Pear & stem ginger pudding-cake

Comfort food was the order of the day – rain, no sleep & a nagging headache could only be soothed by one thing: Cake!

I flicked through a few recipe books, but to be honest concentration was not going to be my strong point today. I decided on an apple & almond pudding-cake recipe from the River Cottage Everyday cookbook which is a household favourite; but this soon became a pear & stem ginger pudding-cake. In the end it turned out so well (and having made a similar plum pudding-cake a few times) that I’m being bold and sharing it. Usually I like to test a few times before posting but I’m convinced this is great & you’ll love it.

You need:

4 comice pears
25g unsalted butter
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 stem gingers, finely grated

For the cake batter:
150g unsalted butter
125g granulated sugar
2 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
40g self-raising flour
40g spelt flour
75g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
an extra tablespoon of sugar

Method:

Grease a 20cm springform cake tin and line the bottom with baking parchment. Peel and core the pears, slice into wedges. Melt the 25g of butter in a frying pan, add the sugar and heat until it starts to bubble. Add the pears and grated ginger and cook for a few minutes on low until caramelised. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Next for the cake batter. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Stir in the vanilla extract.  Add the first egg and beat again, then add the second egg and beat into the mixture. If you add a tablespoon of the flour at this point it will help stop the mix separating. Once you have a smooth mix again, gently fold in the ground ginger, mixed flours, baking powder and ground almonds.

Spoon the cake batter into the cake tin, smooth over with a pallette knife. Lay the sliced pears onto the top of the batter in circles. Sprinkle the extra tablespoon of sugar over the pears. Bake for 45 minutes at 170 degrees C / Gas Mark 3, use a skewer to test, if it comes out clean then it is perfect. This pudding-cake can be eaten warm or cold, serve with yogurt, ice-cream or cream.

A tempting slice of comfort!