Pear cake
This pear cake is the perfect autumn bake. It’s a delicious light and fluffy fruit filled baked that’s so easy to make even children and beginner bakers can master it.
This delicious pear cake is the ultimate autumn bake. It’s a lovely soft, moist sponge filled with bursts of sweetness from fresh pear pieces. If you have a glut of pears from your garden I can’t think of a better way of using them up.
We’ve based this pear cake on our ever popular apple cake recipe as it’s so simple and never lets us down. Rather than cooking it in a round cake tin, we’ve made it as a pear traybake. It makes dividing it into pieces at the end really easy, which is perfect for cake sales or afternoon teas.
How can kids help to make a pear cake?
This is a fun bake for kids to help with, even starting with popping into your garden to collect pears for it if you have your own pear tree!
If you have older children who are safe to use a sharp knife and peeler, they can help to prepare the pears by peeling, coring and cutting them up.
Children who are too young to help prepare the pears can at least help to make the cake batter. We’ve used an easy ‘all in one’ recipe for the cake which means everything gets mixed together in one bowl so it really couldn’t be simpler. Kids can help measure and mix everything together and even help practice their egg cracking skills (an essential skill for any young baker to master).
Once you’ve prepared the cake batter and the pears, your kids can help assemble the traybake. First they can help add some batter to your tin, before arranging the pieces of pear on top. It’s a fun and easy job children of all ages can help with.
How long does the pear cake keep?
This cake is at its best eaten fresh on the day it’s made. It’s even better if you serve it while it’s still a little bit warm from the oven. If you have some left over though, you can still enjoy it over the next day or two (warm it again before you serve it if you like). It won’t keep fresh for much longer than that because of the fresh fruit.If you want to keep it for longer than a few days or make it in advance, you can freeze it for up to 3 months. Wrap it well in cling film / glad wrap either as a whole or in individual pieces once it’s been sliced, and pop it in a freezer bag. Make sure you defrost it fully before serving it.
What’s the best pear to use in a pear cake?
You can use any pear you like in this cake recipe, although they work best if they aren’t too ripe so are still quite firm. If you have your own pear tree, or your neighbours do, this is a great way of using up home-grown pear in the Autumn/fall.
Can I add any spices?
Absolutely. Pear and ginger work really well together as do pear and cinnamon. If you like you can add a teaspoon of either of these spices to your cake batter.
What can if I don’t have any self raising flour?
Self-raising flour should be easy to find here in the UK but if you don’t have any or can’t find any in your local supermarket, you can swap it for an equal amount of plain or all purpose flour and add 2 extra teaspoons of baking powder and a pinch of salt.
What is baking margarine or baking spread?
Baking spread, (like Stork for example), is just a non dairy margarine that’s great for baking. It can make sponges lighter and fluffier, which means it’s a good, cheaper alternative to butter.
Can you bake it in a round cake tin?
Yes, if you’d rather have this as a round cake, rather than cooking it in a traybake tin, you can bake it in a 20cm round, loose bottomed tin. Check the cake after about 40 minutes in the oven.
You’ll need less batter than with this traybake batter so adjust the amounts down as follows:
2-3 pears
225g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
175g butter/baking spread
1 tablespoon milk
Other cake recipes
If you liked this pear cake why not try one of these other traybake recipes:
Apple cake
Sultana cake
Ginger cake (Mary Berry)
Millionaires shortbread
School cake
Banana and chocolate chip bars
Iced lemon traybake
Or if you have more pears to use up why not use them in a delicious pear crumble.
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make this pear cake:
Digital scales
Freestanding mixer
Mixing bowl
Hand held mixer
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Spatula
Offset spatula
23 x 30cm baking tin
Wire rack
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Ingredients
3-4 pears
300g (2 ½ cups) self raising flour*
225g (1 1/8 cup) caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs
225g (1 cup) butter or baking margarine
1 tablespoon milk
How to make a pear cake
Preheat your oven to 180C / 170C / 350F and grease and line 23x33cm (9 x 13 inch) baking tin with baking or parchment paper.
One of the easiest ways of lining a baking tray, if you don’t have ready made tin liners, is to cut a strip of baking paper the width of your tin and lay it in in one direction, then do the same in the other direction. Leave a little overhanging the edge to make it easier to remove the cake later.
Don’t skip the greasing step (use either a little butter or oil), as it will help the baking paper stick to the tin when you add the cake batter.
Prepare the pears
If your kids are old enough get them to help peel, core and quarter the pears, although coring the pears is a little tricky so isn’t a job for very young children. Once you’ve done that cut them into small chunks.
Set the pear aside for now.
Make the pear cake batter
To make this cake you need to measure all the cake batter ingredients out and add them to a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a free-standing mixer.
You can get your kids to do this in any order, but if you follow the order the ingredients are listed, they’ll be less likely to miss anything out.
Start adding the dry ingredients – the flour, sugar, and baking powder. When your kids add the baking powder make sure they use their finger to level the teaspoon to add just the right amount.
Next add the wet ingredients, starting with the baking spread or butter if you’re using it. Butter needs to be safe enough to mix in, so if yours is still hard from the fridge cut it into a few pieces and pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds or so to soften it, but not long enough for it to melt.
Get your kids to crack the eggs into a small bowl then add them to your mixing bowl. When you’re baking with kids it’s generally safer not to let them add the eggs straight in just in case any shell goes in. If/when it does simply fish it out with a larger piece of shell or a teaspoon as it will stick to those better than it will your finger.
Finally add the tablespoon of milk.
Mix everything together
Once you’ve added all your ingredients, get your kids to mix everything together either with a hand held mixer or the k-paddle of your free-standing mixer. Mix it all until it’s nice and smooth with no visible lumps of flour showing.
Get your kids to scrape down the sides of your bowl with a spatula to make sure there’s nothing hiding at the bottom of your bowl.
Add the pear
Add ¾ of the pieces of pear to your cake batter and stir them through so they are well dispersed.
Make the pear cake
Get your kids to help add half the batter to your prepared traybake tin. Spread it to the edges and level the top with a small offset palette knife or spatula.
Spread the remaining pieces of pear over the top of the batter, then add the rest of the batter over the pears.
If you have another pear, cut it into thin slices and arrange them over the top of the cake batter, pressing them down gently into the batter.
Bake the pear cake
Bake the pear cake for 50-60 minutes. It’s ready when it’s turned golden brown, and is starting to come away from the edges of your tin.
You can test when your cake is ready by inserting a cocktail stick, skewer or sharp knife in the centre, and it should come out clean if it’s fully baked. If bits of wet batter stick to the skewer pop it back in the oven for a few more minutes.
Once it’s fully baked take the cake out of the oven and leave it in the tin for 10 minutes to start cooling.
Remove the traybake from the tin, peel of the baking paper and leave it on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, slice it into pieces with a sharp knife.
Sprinkle over some icing sugar just before you serve it. Enjoy!
Pear cake
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180C / 170C / 350F and grease and line 23x33cm (9 x 13 inch) baking tin with baking or parchment paper.
- Peel, core and quarter the pears, and then cut them into small chunks.Set the pear aside for now.
- To make this cake you need to measure all the cake batter ingredients out and add them to a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a free-standing mixer.You can do this in any order, but if you follow the order the ingredients are listed, they'll be less likely to miss anything out.
- Start adding the dry ingredients – the flour, sugar, and baking powder. When you add the baking powder make sure you use your finger to level the teaspoon so that you add just the right amount.
- Next add the wet ingredients, starting with the baking spread or butter if you're using it. Butter needs to be safe enough to mix in, so if yours is still hard from the fridge cut it into a few pieces and pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds or so to soften it, but not long enough for it to melt.Crack the eggs into a small bowl then add them to your mixing bowl.Finally add the tablespoon of milk.
- Once you've added all your ingredients, mix everything together either with a hand held mixer or the k-paddle of your free-standing mixer. Mix it all until it's nice and smooth with no visible lumps of flour showing.Scrape down the sides of your bowl with a spatula to make sure there's nothing hiding at the bottom of your bowl.
- Add ¾ of the pieces of pear to your cake batter and stir them through so they are well dispersed.
- Add half the batter to your prepared traybake tin. Spread it to the edges and level the top with a small offset palette knife or spatula.Spread the remaining pieces of pear over the top of the batter, then add the rest of the batter over the pears.If you have another pear, cut it into thin slices and arrange them over the top of the cake batter, pressing them down gently into the batter.
- Bake the pear cake for 50-60 minutes. It's ready when it's turned golden brown, and is starting to come away from the edges of your tin.You can test when your cake is ready by inserting a cocktail stick, skewer or sharp knife in the centre, and it should come out clean if it's fully baked. If bits of wet batter stick to the skewer pop it back in the oven for a few more minutes.
- Once it's fully baked take the cake out of the oven and leave it in the tin for 10 minutes to start cooling.Remove the traybake from the tin, peel of the baking paper and leave it on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, slice it into pieces with a sharp knife.Sprinkle over some icing sugar just before you serve it. Enjoy!
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If you liked this pear cake you’ll love our other autumnal recipes as well as our favourite easy bakes for kids.
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