Lightly spiced poached pears top a cake flavoured with stem and ground ginger. The cake is then finished off with a drizzle of rum flavoured icing. This pear and ginger cake is also delicious served warm as a dessert.
Each week the show is on air I like to bake along to The Great British Bake Off. I made this Pear and Ginger Cake with a rum drizzle as the recipe inspired by Spice week.
In this episode each contestant was asked to make a ginger cake, and as soon as I saw one of the contestants had pears on their work surface the idea for this cake sprung into my mind. Not only are pears and ginger a great combination, pears are also currently in season.
I almost ditched the idea when I saw at least one other contestant was also going for the pear and ginger combination but in the end decided to stick with it since it is such a great combination.
So that just left me with the dilemma on whether to go for a rich sticky ginger cake or a lighter cake. I've opted for the lighter version.
I love stem ginger and this cake gets its flavour from a mixture of both ground spice and stem ginger. There is no mistake its ginger cake but the ginger is not overpowering.
The pears are poached in a lightly spiced sugar syrup which is also flavoured with some fresh ginger. Personally I almost always have fresh ginger in the fridge, but you could substitute it with ½ teaspoon ground ginger instead.
To finish the cake I added a drizzle of rum flavoured icing. Again, rum and ginger seem to go very well together but, if you prefer, use a little lemon juice instead. Without the drizzle the cake is delicious served warm as a dessert with some cream or ice cream for a dessert.
How to make the Pear and ginger cake step by step
Peel, halve and core the pears Place the sugar, water and spices for the pears in saucepan. Heat until the sugar dissolves. Boil for 1 minute. Poach the pears in syrup poach until just tender. Drain well. Beat the butter, sugar and treacle together. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the stem ginger. Sift the flour and ground spices into the bowl and fold in. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and level. Arrange the pear halves on top. Bake. To make the drizzle mix the icing sugar and rum together. Drizzle icing over the top of the cake and allow to set before serving.
Pear and ginger cake
Ingredients
for the spiced pears
- 3 firm pears
- 300 ml (½pt) water
- 100 g (3½oz) golden caster sugar
- 3 slices stem ginger
- 4 cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
for the cake
- 250 g (9oz) butter softened
- 225 g (8oz) golden caster sugar
- 100 g (3½oz) black treacle
- 4 large eggs chopped
- 100 g (3½oz) stem ginger
- 300 g (10½oz) self-raising flour
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
for the rum drizzle
- 50 g (2oz) icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon rum
Instructions
- First prepare 3 pears, peel the and cut in half then scoop out the core with a teaspoon.
- Place the water in a saucepan with the 100g (3½oz) sugar, 3 slices ginger, 4 cloves and 1 cinnamon stick, and heat gently stirring until the sugar dissolves.
- Place the pears in the syrup. Cover and poach gently for until just tender.
- Remove from the pan with a draining spoon and allow to cool completely.
- Preheat the oven to 170℃ (150℃ fan)/350°F/gas mark 3. Lightly grease and line the base of a 23cm (9in) springform or deep loose bottom cake tin.
- Beat 250g (9oz) butter, 225g (8oz) sugar and 100g (3½oz) treacle together until fluffy. Then beat in 4 eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
- Add 100g (3½oz) chopped stem ginger and gently fold in, then sift in 300g (10½oz) flour and 2 teaspoons each of ginger and cinnamon into the bowl and fold in.
- Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and level. Arrange the pear halves on top.
- Bake for about 1 – 1¼ hours or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cover the top loosely with foil if it begins to get too dark on top.
- Allow too cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the rum drizzle, sift 50g (2oz) icing sugar into a small mixing bowl, then stir in 1 tablespoon rum to form a thin icing.
- Drizzle from the spoon in a random pattern on top of the cake. Allow to set. Serve cut into slices.
Olga says
I made it for a friend's birthday and they loved it. It came out really well, the consistency was perfect. I put agave syrup rather than treacle, as I didn't have any black treacle. I'll try it with fresh ginger instead of ground ginger next time for a more intense ginger flavour. And I wonder if I could use part butter - part vegetable oil? In which case, how much butter/veg oil would you recommend?
BTW, I prefer it to the pear+chocolate, as it's lighter.
x
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
I'm so glad you and your friends like the cake. I have not tried baking much with oil rather than butter as in most cases I like the flavour butter bring to the end result. I would not replace more than half the butter with oil as it will effect both the flavour and texture. It might be worth adding a little extra baking powder as you will be adding less air to the mixture if you are not beating as much butter and sugar together. If you try I would love to know how you get on. You may also like to try my Almond bizcocho which uses all oil.
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder says
This cake sounds so delicious Jacqui! I still remember your last year's sunken pear cake with the fruits standing up and looking so impressive. This one is beautiful too and the spicy ginger sponge and pear combination sounds divine!
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
Thank you Jo The sunken pear cake was a great success, I'm not sure what flavour combination I like the most, pear and chocolate or pear and ginger.
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
What a beautiful looking cake, and the flavours are so perfect for this time of year
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
Yes there is a lovely autumnal feel to this cake, I think its the warming rum and ginger.
Corina Blum says
I love ginger cakes too Jacqui and although I haven't had pears in a ginger cake yet I imagine it's a great combination!
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
Its a great combination at least i think so lol
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
What a delicious looking and sounding cake. I love the flavours you have used. I can imagine this being delicious with lots of double cream! I attempted a cake inspired by spice week last weekend and it tasted delicious but sunk and was far too crumbly!
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
It wouldbe nice with double cream. I would be tempted to add a splash of rum to the cream too.
Jenny Paulin says
oooh Jacqueline this looks great! Much more successful than ~Terry's attempt on the show, although he did sandwich a warm sponge with cream so it was always going to look messy! very yummy looking indeed x
thank you for sharing x
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
I think sometimes they just make the cakes on Bake Off unnecessarily complicated. I like mine to be simple.