Ingredients
Serves 8 to 10
Makes one 23cm (9-inch) cake
100 g / 1 cup of flour
50 g / 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
110 g / 1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 eggs, separated
1 cc poudre à levure / 1 tsp of baking powder
A generous pinch of fine salt
1.5 cc / 1.5 tsp of vanilla extract
3-4 cooking pears (Bosc, Williams and Conference pears are great)
Extra brown sugar for the bottom of your pan
Preparation
1. Preheat your oven to 180c / 350f and line your bake pan with parchment paper and sprinkle 3-4 pinches of brown sugar
2. Brown your butter and transfer to a bowl to cool.
3. Prepare your pears by peeling, coring and slicing them into quarters, set aside
4. If you are making a pear swirl on the bottom of your cake, select a pear and slice thin slices and place on the bottom on your pan in the shape of a swirl, set aside
5. In a large bowl mix your flour, baking powder (poudre à levure) and salt, set aside
5. Beat your egg whites until they are stiff, set aside
6. Add your browned butter into a mixing bowl with your brown sugar. Beat on medium for about a minute. One by one add in your yolks, beating each time.
7. With a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in your flour mixture
8. Cut up your remaining pears into medium chunks and mix into your cake batter
9. Fold in your egg whites until almost mixed all the way (easiest way to do this is with a spatula.)
10. Pour the batter into your pan, it will be a thick batter so be mindful not to disrupt your pear swirl by spreading roughly your batter. Bake for 20-30 mins. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Enjoy!
Step 1
Gather all your ingredients
Melt your butter on medium high, you want to swirl the pot to keep the butter moving so that it doesn't burn
You will smell a nutty caramel flavor and when it's about this color pull it off the heat before it burns!
Set aside in a bowl to let cool slightly
If your pears are ripe be gentle while pealing and make sure to take out the skin between each stroke for an easier peeling experience
I use the tip of my peeler to core out the bottoms of each pear
Cut each pear in half and core out the center as you did the bottoms
I like to do each step all the way through one at a time. Peeling, coring the bottoms, cutting in half and coring the inside
When choosing the size of the pear to cut up for the pear swirl on the bottom of the pan, I measure the pears directly in the pan
Cut your pear into thin slices and lay into a swirl on the bottom of your lightly brown sugared pan
Pear swirl at the bottom of your pan .
I forgot to add sugar on the bottom of my pan so I added it on top of the pears
In a clean bowl, start beating your egg whites
Trust that your egg whites will grow after 5 minutes or so
The texture should look like this and be quite thick
In a separate bowl add your browned butter and sugar and beat for about a minute on medium
Add your egg yolks one at a time, beating in between each yolk
Add your flour and mix
Add your pears and mix
Add your egg whites and fold them into the batter best you can
Keep folding your dough over your egg whites to incorporate
Your batter can look like this, not completely perfectly mixed
Be mindful when pouring into prepared cake pan as not to disturb your pear swirl (unless you skipped this step)
Spread the batter lightly and pop the pan in the oven for 20-30 minutes
Your cake will lovely nicely golden, feel free to serve it face up if you'd like
Put your serving plate over the cake pan and flip it over so that it falls directly onto your serving plate
Mindfully take off the cake pan, it may be hot
Feel free to dust powdered sugar on top. I like it as simple as possible
Serve warm or room temperate
Story
I love this cake because it truly highlights the pears. It’s light and has very little sugar. I usually make this for a goûter (snack.) If I’m making it for a dessert I usually drizzle Pineau des Charentes over the top as it comes out of the oven or serve it with creme anglaise or a creme fraîche (sour cream.)
If you prefer a more cakey cake, cut down on the amount of pears. Try 2 or 3. Omit the pear swirl on the bottom of the cake to save time. That is just decorative, it will still be delicious.
Here it is proposed in its simplest, humblest way.
*Please note, if you live in France brown sugar is not “cassonade.” When you squeeze the bag there should be some resistance and it should feel like the consistency of play dough. The shops in Paris that carry real brown sugar that I know of are Naturalia and Biocoop.
