Sunday Home Bake - Pear Cake with Dates and Cashews





Some Sundays I wake up and think: You know, I really want to bake something delicious and take pictures of the process and then write about it a little. 

Today was one of those days, so I drank some coffee and looked up recipes for pear cake, since I needed to use up the ridiculous pears from halfway across the planet I bought at Costco in an ill-fated attempt to get my 13 year old to eat something - anything- other than cereal and quesadillas. I thought he liked pears. I was, apparently, wrong. 
Anyway, I found a recipe for blueberry crumb cake and I thought I'd just switch out the blueberries for pears, but then I found a little pack of dates I had hidden away and decided to throw those in too. 
I also changed the crumb topping to more of a crispy, sugary, cashew brittle-ish kind of thing.   And the combo of the dates and pears make this dense, almost fudgy but somehow still coffee cake-ish texture. It was really, really good. 

So, no, it's not a summer recipe, but I'm going to file it away for fall and then make it repeatedly. 
xo

Pear Date Cashew Crumb Cake

Crumbs
5 Tbsp butter, cut into 5 pieces
1/4 sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup chopped raw cashews

Cake
1 2/2 cups chopped ripe pear
2/3 cup chopped dates
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder 
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
a few grates of fresh nutmeg
6 Tbsp butter
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs at room temp
1/2 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 350 and position a rack in the middle.  Line an 8x8 pan with parchment and set aside. 

Make the crumbs - pulse all ingredients except nuts in a food processor until crumbly crumbs form. transfer to a small bowl and stir in the chopped cashews. Cover tightly and refrigerate while you make the cake batter. 

Put butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment and beat until light and fluffy - 3-4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing on medium, then the vanilla. 
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in another bowl. 
Add alternately with the coconut milk, starting and ending with the flour mixture. It will be a pretty thick batter. Gently fold in the chopped pears and dates, then use a rubber spatula to get it all into the prepared pan.  Smooth the top a little, then get your crumbs and sprinkle evenly over the top - it will seem like  a lot but go with it. 
Pop on that middle rack and bake for 40 minutes - then check it. The original blueberry recipe said 55-65 minutes but I know my oven usually needs about 5-10 minutes less than many recipes call for when I'm baking sweets. Mine was ready in about 50 minutes total, but make sure you check yours at 40 just in case. 



dates
pears 


preparations





fruity batter


the sprinkling of the crumbs is complete

cake

more cake

happy me

happy Sunday




1 comment:

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