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A square photo with a piece of pear cake in the foreground and in the background a cake stand with the rest of the cake. On the left a pink cup with coffee.

Moist Pear Cake with Olive Oil

Andréa
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.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Course Sweets and Sweet Baking
Cuisine Dutch
Servings 8 pieces
Calories 364 kcal

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

Ingredients you need per step are listed below the step in Italic

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

1. Pears - Use ripe, firm pears, and remove the skin and core. Anjou, Bartlett pears of Bosch are very suitable for this.
2. 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).
3. Speculaas spices - Those delicious 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.
4. Variation - Delicious with ¼ cup (50 grams) of nuts or currants added to the batter (between the cake layers and the pear).
5. Baking tips
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 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.
6. Oven - When you use a conventional oven, set the temperature to 350 °F (180 °C). In a convection oven, 320 °F (160 °C) is sufficient.
7. Storage
  • 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.
8. The nutritional value is per piece of moist pear cake with olive oil, assuming you cut eight equal slices.

Nutrition

Calories: 364kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 73mg | Sodium: 65mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 124IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Iron: 2mg
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