Pear Spice Cake with Walnut Praline Topping
Kid Table. Can we talk about the Kid Table? The Kid Table was something that I had to endure every holiday from the age of three to um…. present. You know what the Kid Table is, right?
The integral family socialization tool. The foundation of society. The folding table and chairs circa 1943 that your Grandma busts out every every every Christmas. Who sits at this pint sized table? Certainly not Grandpa, Grandma, or any other high ranking family members.
It’s called the Kid Table for a reason. It’s where you dump all the kids. In the adult mind, I think it’s the “sit down, eat your Christmas dinner, and if you’re going to throw your Jello salad at each other, I prefer to ignore it” table.
The Kid Table still exists in my family. One small catch: there are no more kids in my family.
Let me just say that Christmas dinner at the Kid Table is now…. more awesome than ever! Kid Table got cool. Kid Table is now the place to be. Boom… youth success!
There’s nothing like wine, family smack talk with your cool uncles, and stealing all of the thunder from the main table. They would sooooo like to think they’re the main event. False. Kid Table… cooler than ever!
And now… Pear Spice Cake.
SpicySweet.
This recipe is adapted from an old school Gourmet Magazine recipe. By ‘old school’, I’m talking early 1990′s. Way back in the day, right?
The pears add a delicate flavor and lots of moisture, but the cake doesn’t exactly scream pear right in your face. It’s more of an awesomely spice cake with an out of the world praline topping. If you wanted to experiment with fruits like apricots, apples, raisins, I don’t think you could go wrong.
Pear Spice Cake with Walnut Praline Topping
adapted from Gourmet, December 1992
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs, separated
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cups buttermilk
- 3 pears, peeled, cored and diced into roughly 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 to 1 1/4 cups of fruit)
- 1 cup walnuts (3 ounces), toasted , cooled, and finely chopped
Make cake:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour bundt pan.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Beat together butter, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer or 4 with a handheld. Add yolks 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately in batches, mixing well after each addition. Fold in pear pieces and chopped walnuts.
Beat egg whites in another bowl with cleaned beaters until they just hold stiff peaks, then fold whites into batter gently but thoroughly.
Spoon batter into pan, smoothing top, and bake until a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then invert onto rack and cool completely.
Walnut Praline Topping
- 3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup whipping cream
- 1 cups walnuts, roughly chopped, toasted
75 Comments Add A Comment
Oh my, was this cake delicious. The cake has a perfect balance of spices and pears. It pairs deliciously with the praline topping. Let me just tell you about the praline topping…it’s heavenly. Butter, brown sugar, walnuts, and heavy cream cooked together to perfection. It’s a celebration of warm gooey goodness in your mouth. Yummo!
With so many awesome recipes in this site, I found it hard to decide what to try first. So I went shopping and bought enough stuff to cook a half dozen of these recipes in the next few days. My wife will love me as she adores pears, walnuts, and pumpkin! I’ll start with this one and work over to the pumpkin cookies…. and then, who knows! Who cares? It’s certain to be tasty!
I made this today. It was amazing. Spice cakes are totally boy bait.
I’ve been drooling over your recipes for weeks, and finally made this cake tonight for Valentine’s Day. O.M.G. Sugary, nutty, sweet yumminess and it goes SUPERBLY with a cup of coffee :) I don’t know why dessert is at the end of the day. It clearly should be the main focus. First recipe was a success, definitely not my last. Thanks!
I am already planning to make this for Thanksgiving 2011!!
Just wondering if you would be able to freeze the cake without the topping? My neighbor just gave me a whole bushel of pears to use.
you can absolutely freeze this cake without the topping!
This looks amazing, bought all the ingredients to bake it today! But I was wondering..Does this cake still taste good one day after bake it? I plan to bake this today and present it to guests tomorrow.
Joy – First off I love you! Second this was my husbands favorite cake growing up, but the recipe was lost before I ever got to try it. Last year for his birthday I was searching on you blog for a pear cake and he walked by the computer and saw the picture of this cake. He was so excited that I found the recipe and it lived up to his memories. Now I’m making it again for Thanksgiving today because he “has” to share it with his family. They are excited too. Thanks for giving us something old in his childhood a new life in your house. Third I’m really excited about the book!
Oh my, Joy. Just made this for my first time hosting Thanksgiving, and it was incredible. I totally trusted you, as this was the only desert option and I’ve never made it before, but I knew you could be trusted. The only change I made was that I used apples instead of pears since I wound up with 50+ lbs of apples, and this was an amazing way to start to make a dent in them. I may have never before put something so delicious in my mouth, and all others who partook heartily agreed. Thanks for the awesome recipe, and Happy Thanksgiving! (PS- I made a froze your apple coffee cake recipe for tomorrow morning- I’m sure it’s great too.)
This was pretty good. Next time I would double the spices and add more fruit. Also, next time I won’t pour the topping onto the cake directly after removing it from the stove (let it sit for a few minutes).