The combination of fresh, juicy, pears and spicy ginger is absolutely divine! And with an addition of one of my favorite spices cinnamon and you’re in a cake heaven!
This cake is wonderfully moist, with gentle warmth and flavor of ginger – candied ginger is minced up in the crumb topping, and ground ginger in the cake.
This is one of really easy, uncomplicated cakes, 15 minutes of prep time, just 2 bowls (actually 3 :D, one small bowl for crumb topping), one for dry and another for wet ingredients, combine two together gently and you are well on your way.
As I wrote above, there is ground ginger in the cake, just a teaspoon that gives nice warmth to the cake, but if you want serious spice you might want to up the quantity to 2 teaspoons. I haven’t tried it, ’cause for me the recipe for this cake is perfect just the way it is.
FEW TIPS:
- Make sure, all ingredients are room temperture.
- Make the crumb topping first, put it in the freezer while you make the cake.
- Size of your baking tin is really important. I’ve been using 23 cm (9 inch) springform pan and my cake takes anything between 50-55 minutes to bake. I suggest that you do the skewer test at approx 45 min and every 5 minutes after that up until the skewer comes out clean meaning the cake is ready.
- Top of the cake browning to much: if you notice that your cake is getting too brown on top but there is still some time before it’s ready then simply cover it gently with a piece of aluminium foil to prevent it from coloring too much.
Pear and Ginger Cake
Equipment
- 23 cm (9 inch) springform pan
Ingredients
- 220 grams (1 3/4 cups, 7.76 oz) all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 180 grams (3/4 cup, 6.35 oz) butter room temperature
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 150 grams (3/4 cup, 5.3 oz) granulated sugar
- 100 grams (1/2 cup, 3.5 oz) brown sugar
- 180 grams (3/4 cup, 6.35 oz) plain yogurt room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 500 grams pears, peeled, cored and diced I used Williams/Bartlett
- 1-2 tablespoons all-purpose flour to coat the pears
Crumb Topping
- 30 grams (2 tablespoons) butter melted
- 70 grams (1/3 cup, 2.47) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 70 grams (2.4 oz) crystallized (candied) ginger finely chopped
- 40 grams (1/3 cup, 1.41 oz) all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).
- Line bottom of the 23 cm (9inch) springform pan with baking paper, butter and flour the edges of the pan.
- Make ginger crumb topping: Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon and candied ginger together in a bowl, then stir in melted butter. Put the topping in the freezer while you mix up the cake.
- In a bowl gently coat pears with 1-2 tablespoons flour.
- Whisk flour, cornstarch, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Using an handheld mixer (or stand mixer with paddle attachment), cream the butter and sugars together on medium-high speed until fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.
Stir in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with yogurt in two additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients, and scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Do not over mix! Gently fold in pears. - Spread the batter into the prepared pan, then sprinkle the crumb topping over the cake—make sure the crumb is totally frozen, and that you move quickly to sprinkle it over the cake and transfer to the oven.
- Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 50 minutes, covering with foil to prevent excess browning, if necessary. I suggest that you do the skewer test at approx 45 min and every 5 minutes after that up until the skewer comes out clean meaning the cake is ready.
Leave a Reply