Spiced Ginger And Pear Cake

This recipe was originally written for Town & Country Uk.

Richly spiced and almost fudgy, this is a dense, sticky cake reminiscent of the classic Jamaican ginger cake. Freshly chopped pears give it a fruity, lighter note making it the perfect accompaniment to a morning cup of coffee. If you like, you can finish it with a loose lemony glaze adding a zesty sweetness to it which I am partial to. Switch up the ratios of the ground spices depending on your taste, but a must is the finely grated ginger as this brings a wonderful zing to the flavour.

Ingredients

230g plain flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp of fresh grated nutmeg (or 1/4 tsp)
½ tsp mixed spice
130g unsalted butter, soft
50g dark brown Muscovado sugar (any lumps pushed out using your fingers)
100g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
75g golden syrup
60g black treacle
Thumb sized piece of ginger, finely grated
50ml milk
2 medium-sized ripe pears (such as Williams pears)

For the icing

70g icing sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice

Method

Preheat your oven to 180° fan setting. Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.
Peel your pears and half lengthways. Set aside one half, then chop the remaining three halves into roughly 1cm cubes. Discarding the core and any pips. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together your flour, salt, baking powder and spices.
In a large mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer beat the butter to soften. Then add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
Add the eggs one at a time and beat till just incorporated.
Add the vanilla, golden syrup, black treacle and grated ginger and beat again until you have a smooth glossy mix.

Add half of your flour mix and mix followed by half of the milk. Mix. Then repeat this stage and mix until everything is incorporated.
Gently fold in the chopped pears and pour the batter into your tin. Slice the remaining half a pear and arrange on top, lightly pressing into the batter.
Bake for 45-55 minutes. It should be firm to touch and bounce back a little in the centre when you press it. (If the cake is browning too much after 45 mins just place a little foil loosely over the top.)
Allow the cake to cool in the tin for ten minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack, allowing it to cool completely.
If you are icing the cake sieve the icing sugar into a medium sized bowl. Add the lemon juice and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the spiced ginger and pear cake.

If you are looking for more cakes try this spiced carrot and pecan cake or this Russet apple, pecan cake with streusal topping.