I’ve still got a crazy amount of pears to work my way through. And it’s glorious. I wrote about being given too many pears last week and I’ve not yet run out of things to bake with them!
The weather in Sydney turned pretty dismal this week, so I’ve been poaching and baking and snuggling up with Norman at every opportunity.
It’s also the first day of Autumn today! This cake is perfect for Autumn because it’s not quite heavy enough for a Winter’s pudding, but it’s not too Summery either because of the almondy hints and the caramel notes created by the brown sugar. The chocolate and cardamom mingle beautifully to create warm, rich little mouthfuls, while the pear brings a lovely moistness to the cake.
Best served sprinkled with icing sugar, as it needs very little accompaniment. If you’re feeling especially indulgent on a dreary, rainy day, serve warm, with a dollop thick cream.
Chocolate cardamon pear cake
- 180g butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1 cup self-raising flour
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 2 pears
Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease and line a 21cm cake tin.
Cream together the butter and brown sugar until pale. Add in the eggs, followed by your almond meal. Sift in the self-raising flour and add in the milk to thin out the mixture. Mix the cardamom into the batter thoroughly, then fold the chocolate chunks in as well.
Peel and core your pears, then cut them into thin wedges. Arrange the wedges around the cake in whatever fashion you like, pressing them in slightly. I tend to organise them so that they fit neatly into slices once the cake is cooked.
Pop the cake in the oven for 50 minutes. Remove when a cake inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool before removing from the tin – this cake is delicate, so needs a little extra care.
Happy first day of Autumn. Lovely cake to kick things off with. 🙂
Thank you kindly 🙂
Funny, I would have thought your autumn would be the same as the first day of our spring! How interesting!
Ooh that is interesting – I assumed the same! When does Spring start for you?
March 20st. Spring equinox. Interesting!
Somehow I missed this. Today is the first day of spring for us. 20 days after your autumn started!
yummy… pears and cardamom should be amazing together…may I say that I’m glad that you have that amount of pears??? I’m enjoying your recipes…
They go so well together! I’m so glad I have the pears as well! I should have some more pear recipes up soon 🙂 Thank you!
You are right, this is just the thing for a rainy, grey day like today. I’m missing summer already!!
Me too! And it was only yesterday haha
What a lovely way to celebrate the first day of autumn… Yum. Just YUM. 🙂 Beautiful photos!
Thank you 😀
Never heard of this combo and I have no idea why, sounds amazing! As usual Gab! 🙂 Prudy is right, your photos look gorgeous 🙂 Wish you could post some over! 🙂 xx
I’d heard of chocolate cardamon before, I just happened to have loads of pears so I threw them in too…it was a good idea! Thank you 🙂 you two will give me a big head with all the compliments!!
Hi Gab, I’m from the other side of the world and we are hopefully approaching spring with the first daffodils out now. That aside, I think your cake looks delicious and I love the flavour combinations. Another great bake. Julie x
Ooh I’m so jealous of your Spring! I can’t wait for daffodils to start peeping out of the ground! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Love the combination of pear and cardamom.
Thanks Lidia! It worked so delightfully!
This looks delicious, Gab! Love pear cakes, so tasty! Weird to think it’s the first day of Spring here! 🙂
That is such an elegant looking cake – a bounty of pears is a treasure!
Thank you 🙂 The bounty of pears was such a delightful surprise, sadly they’ve all been devoured now!!
In the oven now and smelling amazing. Can’t wait to taste it
Yay Karen! So lovely to hear! How did it turn out?