Have you ever put a pear in your purse? It always starts with the best of intentions. Mid-morning snack. Afternoon fruit break. Nope… it’s never going to be any of those. It’s going to get bruised by your wallet and smashed up against some loose pens. It never goes as well as you’d like it to.
Bad idea.
Better idea? Pear in coffee cake.
This coffee cake is tender, spiced with Fall, and pear-studded. So much better than bruised and pen-stabbed, right!?
Let’s melt our butter and get this show on the road.
The flavors of brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg shine! Buttermilk is our great tenderizer, whisked together with melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract.
Pretty simple!
Pears are important. I used Bartlett, but grab any pear that makes you happy.
It’s important that the pear be ripe, but not overly soft. It’s best if they can hold their shape in the oven.
Wet meets dry and pear chunks are stirred in.
I like to layer a few pears on top of the batter. This is a more-is-more situation.
Crumble topping! Everything is better with crumble. This topping is extra buttery and sweet.
Be generous.
Be kind.
We just turned cake into breakfast. It’s one of those easy things to do if you make a big pot of coffee and enjoy this cake before noon. This cake is soft, sweet, and loaded with soft pear pieces. It’s Fall. This is totally one of those things you should just do.
Pear Crumble Coffee Cake
makes an 8×8-inch square pan
For the Cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flours
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 small or 1 1/2 medium pears, ripe but still firm, unpeeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch chunks
For the Crumble Topping:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated or brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
Place rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8-inch square. Line with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spice. Stir in the sugars until well combined. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently stir to incorporate. Once the dry ingredients are almost fully incorporated, fold in the pears. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
To make the crumble, in a small bowl combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and butter. Use your fingers to break the butter down into the dry ingredients until crumbly. Generously sprinkle topping on top of cake batter.
Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Cake will last for 3 days, wrapped well and stored in the refrigerator.
98 Responses
I had approximately 100 pears from my farm box this week and my partner is doing a low carb thing to assert control over something in these perilous times, so abandoned me in my hour of ripe pear window need. I racked the internet for as many pear recipes as I could come up with, and selected this recipe. It turned out AMAZING.
Notes:
1. As mentioned, I had 100 pears, so I added 4 small pears instead of the 2 small pears in the recipe. Reckless, I know. I think this added a few minutes of bake time, but the pear to cake ratio was great IMO.
2. I am confusing when it comes to dairy. I had butter, but no milk or buttermilk. I concocted my own buttermilk substitution: 1 individual-portion container of almond milk yogurt, the juice of half a lemon, and enough unsweetened vanilla almond milk to make up 1 cup.
3. I love cardamom. Full stop. So I added a half teaspoon to the spice mix. I did not reduce any other spices.
4. I accidentally poured in some nutmeg into the crumble when I meant to put cinnamon. I added the cinnamon anyway. It was more nutmeg than I would have preferred, but again, the recipe still turned out not great, but AMAZING. That said, I would leave the nutmeg out of the crumble next time.
5. I live at 5500 feet, and I didnโt make any altitude substitutions, but it did take about 40 minutes at 350 for the toothpick to come out clean.
Even with these whimsical substitutions, this recipe turned out wonderfully. The cake rose beautifully, the texture was moist, the crumble was delightful, and the pears achieved their highest destiny,
Thanks, Joy the Baker! This success helped me manage some stress this Election Eve. May we all continue to fight for human rights for all!
Made this for breakfast this morning. Beautiful, high rising, and delicious! Iโll have to take your word on the โlasting three daysโ cause Iโm pretty sure thatโs not happening here ;) Thanks for another fabulous recipe..
Hi- I made this and it’s amazing!! I’m wondering if it would work in muffin form. Would I have to change anything, other than the bake time?
Thank you, as always, for the copious amounts of butter in my life :)
This recipe looks great and delicious! However, there isn’t buttermilk in my country, is there a substitute?
yogurt also works well!
I made this twice last year at Christmastime. It is really delicious! The pan was very full, but didnโt run over the edge. Donโt use more pear than is called for. I used Bartlett.
Important: Line baking pan both ways with parchment paper, leaving โhand-holdsโ to aid in removing cake from pan.
The cake is not even out of the oven yet, and I’m already ready to pass out from the drips of batter on the spoon: Salmonella might be my maker, but at least I’ll die happy.
Great recipe! I made it vegan by replacing the eggs with 2tbs ground flax + 1/3c water and the butter with Earth Balance spread. I also added 1/3c chopped walnuts into the mix. Flax tends to make baked goods a little gooier/less willing to bake through so I added a total of ~10min baking time and it was perfect.
I shared with my parents and coworkers and I’m surprised there was any left for me! The streusel topping is superb. Thanks!
Do you think doubling this recipe would fit in a 9×13?
If you were to do one whole recipe and then half on one, you’ll be good to go for a 9×13!
Don’t know if you’ll see this in time, but, I want to make this tomorrow and I kind of want to use a bundt pan. Is that possible? What kind of modifications would I need? Thanks Joy!
This is where I land after about 30minutes of aimless Googling for cake recipes. It’s destiny. This will be on my table before sun rise.