This delicious moist Pear Cake with Olive Oil is a real Autumn cake. A good idea for pear season. This great recipe is full of juicy pears that melt in your mouth. Nicely flavored, has a tender texture and is perfect in terms of sweetness. For sure, you want more than one piece of this cake! This will become a family favorite.

Pear Cake Recipe
Are you looking for a delicious soft cake? Then you have found it here: this easy pear cake recipe. This cake has a perfect taste, is creamy and sweet, and is filled with gingerbread spices and fresh pears. Made from simple ingredients that are easy to get, it's quick and easy to make.
It's a cake that always works. Nice with a cup of tea, as a snack on Sunday, as a delicious dessert, or to serve on your birthday (and that's precisely what I'm going to do!).
And do you feel like other cakes with fruit? Then consider this lemon cake with olive oil, tangerine cake or orange olive oil cake. All very tasty!
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What do you need for Pear Cake with Cinnamon?
To prepare this Moist Pear Cake with Olive Oil, you need the following ingredients. You can find the correct amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the blog:

Pears - Use ripe pears, which are firm to the touch, and remove the skin and core. Anjou pears, Bartlett pears, or Bosch are the best for this. Don't use overripe pears that are mushy.
Eggs - Provides full flavor and binding of the cake batter.
Flour - Use all-purpose flour
Brown Sugar and Sugar - Sweeten the cake. In addition, the brown sugar hints at caramel flavor to the cake and ensures that the pear cake stays moister (and therefore does not taste dry).
Olive oil - use extra vierge olive oil with a fruity taste.
Baking powder - Allows the pear cake to rise, making it fluffy. If you want to know more about baking powder and possible substitutes, you will find a blog about baking powder and soda here.
Salt - Balances the flavor of the spicy pear cake.
Vanilla Extract - For a hint of vanilla flavor. If you can get it, use natural vanilla extract, which has a slightly deeper flavor than artificial vanilla extract. With this recipe, you can make a homemade vanilla extract (and, if you bake a lot, it is highly recommended because you can use this for a reasonable amount of time).
Speculaas spices: Those delicious warm spices are characteristic of gingerbread. You can find a recipe for speculaas spices here. You can substitute it with pumpkin spice mix, gingerbread spice mix, or cinnamon.
How to prepare Fresh Pear Cake Recipe
You can find a printable recipe with a step-by-step description at the bottom of this blog.

- Mix olive oil with brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the egg yolks and mix for another 2 minutes. Sift the flour, baking powder, and gingerbread spices over the olive oil mixture and mix on low speed until well blended.
- Beat the egg whites with the sugar until stiff, and gently fold them into the batter. The easiest way to do this is to mix ⅓ of the egg white into the batter, so they can get used to each other. Then add the rest of the egg white and mix it gently to stay airy.
- Spoon half of the batter into the greased springform pan and divide the pear cubes over it. Cover with the rest of the cake batter and divide the pear slices over the cake. You can make the pattern as you wish.
- Bake the cake for 35 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C). Check if the cake is cooked (see tips) and take it out. Let stand for 5 minutes and then remove the baking pan. Let the cake cool on a wire rack.
Serve with a whipped cream dollop (when the cake is still warm) or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Tips and Variations
- Variation - Delicious with ¼ cup (50 grams) of nuts or currants added to the batter (between the cake layers and the pear).
- When baking a cake, ensure all ingredients are at room temperature. So remove cold ingredients from the refrigerator an hour in advance. This will give you a light, creamy cake.
- And if you're new to your oven, check the cupcakes for doneness two minutes before the end of the baking time. This can be done in three easy ways:
- Shake the mold lightly. If the tops of the cupcakes move, they still need to be finished.
- Press your finger on the center of a cupcake. If the print springs back right away, the cupcake is ready. If a dimple remains, they need to bake a little longer.
- Stick a toothpick in the center of a cupcake. If it comes out clean and dry, the cupcakes are done.

Did you make this recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram. I enjoy seeing what your creation looks like. Video recipes can be found on my YouTube channel. And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest so you can easily find them next time!
📖 Recipe
RECIPE CARD
Equipment
- A conventional oven is used. When using a convection oven (with air fan) decrease the temperature with 30 °F / 20 °C
- Spring form 8 inches / 20 cm diameter
- Hand Mixer
Ingredients
- 2 pears
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- ⅔ cup olive oil
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon speculaas spice mix, or pumpkin spice or gingerbread spices
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 3 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Garnish
- ground cinnamon, optional
All my recipes are written both in Metric (gram / ml) and US Customary (cups / pounds). Here you can slect which type of amount you would like to see.
Instructions
- Butter your baking pan and dust with flour. Beat the excess flour from your tin.
- Peel the pears and remove the core. Cut 1 ½ pear into about ½ x ½ inches (1 x 1 cm) cubes and the last half into thin slices.2 pears
- Whisk olive oil with brown sugar in a large bowl for 2 minutes. Add the egg yolks, vanilla and mix on high for another 2 minutes.½ cup dark brown sugar, ⅔ cup olive oil, 3 egg yolks, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Place a sieve over the bowl with the olive oil mixture and sift the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, and speculaas spices. Mix the flour mixture with a mixer on low speed into the batter until well blended.1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, 1 ½ teaspoon speculaas spice mix, ¾ teaspoon baking powder, ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Clean the mixer with hot water and washing-up liquid, and ensure that the bowl is clean (otherwise, the eggs will not become stiff). Beat the egg whites with one tablespoon of sugar until stiff.3 egg whites, 1 tablespoon sugar
- Add ⅓ of the egg white to the batter and mix gently.
- Then, mix the rest of the egg whites with the batter. Do this as carefully as possible so that the cake batter remains airy.
- Then pour half of the batter into the spring form pan, divide the pear pieces (cubes) over it and cover it with the rest.
- Spread the pear slices over the top.
- Place the cake in the oven and bake for 35 minutes until set. Check that (see tips). If it is not cooked enough, extend the baking time by two minutes and check again.
- Leave the spicy pear cake in the spring form pan for 5 minutes and then remove. Let cool further on a rack.
- Optional: Sprinkle with cinnamon just before eating.ground cinnamon
Notes
- Shake the mold lightly. If the tops of the cake moves, it's not done yet.
- Press your finger in the center of the cake. If the print springs back right away, the cake is ready. If a dimple remains, they need to bake a little longer.
- Stick a toothpick in the center of a cake. If it comes out clean and dry, the cupcakes are done.
- Refrigerator - Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for two days.
- Freezer - Wrap in two layers of plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 2 months. Let thaw in the refrigerator.
Gloria says
I love rustic and easy desserts. No frosting or decorating is necessary. Perfect for dessert, and added to the brunch menu too. I love eating cake for breakfast LOL.
Nora says
This pear cake came out perfect! I love that it is made with olive oil. It pairs perfectly with the pear flavor!
Helen at the Lazy Gastronome says
When I saw this cake my mouth watered - and it tasted amazing!! An easy cake to make and is perfect for company or just a slice with your morning coffee. Yum!!
Sara Welch says
This was everything a gourmet dessert should be, and then some! Turned out light, fluffy and delicious; easily, a new favorite recipe!
Kim Beaulieu says
This is such a great cake. We made it on the weekend and raved about it. Can't wait to make it again!
nancy says
such a lovely cake - i love all things pear and this was a craving satisfied. I am totally sharing this recipe with my mom
Alexandra says
Olive oil cakes are one of my favourites to make, and this one is beautifully moist. The pear shines and it is a lovely cake to enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee.
Dee says
This cake looks so good! I've been wanting to make an olive oil cake for a while. I'll be using your recipe!
Amy Liu Dong says
Your moist pear cake is so delicious, and it is so easy to make. I made this, and my guests love it!
Andréa says
Great to hear!