Ingredients
Serves 8 to 10
Makes one 23cm (9-inch) cake
110 g / 1/2 cup unsalted butter
50 g / 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
(extra brown sugar for the bottom of your pan)
3-4 cooking pears (Bosc, Williams and Conference pears are great)
3 eggs, yolk & whites separated
1.5 cc / 1.5 tsp of vanilla extract
100 g / 1 cup of flour
1 cc poudre à levure / 1 tsp of baking powder
A generous pinch of fine salt
Preparation
1. Preheat your oven to 180c / 350f and line your bake pan with parchment paper. Sprinkle 3-4 pinches of brown sugar on the parchment paper.
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 (see photos below) 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.
6. Beat your egg whites until they are stiff, set aside
7. 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. Add in your vanilla extract.
8. With a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in your flour mixture
9. Cut up your remaining pears into medium chunks and mix into your cake batter
10. Using a rubber spatula, fold in your egg whites until almost mixed all the way. You may leave a little bit of egg white un mixed.
11. 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. Butter, brown sugar, pears, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder and fine salt.
To brown your butter, melt it on medium high heat. You will 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 your browned butter aside in a bowl to let cool slightly. Go ahead and put it directly into your mixing bowl. I did not and had to clean an extra bowl.
If your pears are ripe be gentle while pealing them.
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.
Cover your pan with parchment paper and cut your pear into thin slices. Lay them into a swirl on the bottom of your lightly brown sugared 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. Be mindful to not touch the inside of the bowl as the oil on your fingers can make it harder for your whites to rise. Also no yolks at all! in your whites or they will struggle to rise.
Trust that your egg whites will grow after 5 or so minutes.
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 with a wooden spoon or your rubber spatula.
Add your cut up pears and mix gently.
Add your egg whites and with a rubber spatula fold the dough over and over the whites to incorporate them. The goal is the keep a fluffy batter.
Your batter should 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 look nicely golden and your knife should come out clean except for some cooked pear remnants.
To flip it over, 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 just like this.
Serve warm or room temperature.
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.
