- Laura
PEAR AND ALMOND CAKE

Another blinder of a recipe for you lovely lot! I'm not going to lie, pear and almond is not something I ever would have thought of putting together in a cake before... but I had some pears leftover in one of my veg box deliveries and couldn't think what else to do with them.
After scouring for some inspiration, I came across a few recipes for pear and almond cakes or slices, so taking a mixture of a few of them, I made my own.

This was super popular when I posted it on my stories a couple of weeks ago and I had loads of messages asking me for the recipe, so here it is.
INGREDIENTS
Cake -
225g caster sugar
225g butter
3 medium eggs
125g self raising flour
75g ground almonds
Topping -
2 pears
15g flaked almonds
3 tbsp demerara sugar
EQUIPMENT
8" round cake tin
Baking paper
METHOD
Preheat your over to 160 (fan) and line your tin with baking paper
Cream butter and sugar together then add eggs one by one, mixing in between each one to avoid curdling
Sift flour then fold in with ground almonds
Pour mixture into cake tin and level off, put in centre of oven and bake for 20 minutes
While it is baking, prepare your topping. Peel and core your pears then slice thinly (I find the easiest way is to quarter the pears then slice to a couple of mm)
When the cake has baked for 20 minutes, remove from oven to do the topping
You need to be quick here to avoid a sunken sticky mess!
Quickly place the pear slices in uniform layers on the top, they will sink a little bit, don't panic! Once you have your pears on the cake, sprinkle your flaked almonds all over and then the demerara sugar to finish
Place back in the over and cook for a further 50-55 minutes, you will know it is cooked when it is a lovely golden colour and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean
Leave the cake to cool for about 15 minutes in the tin then transfer to a wire rack

I find it is best eaten still slightly warm, or at room temperature... and if you are feeling particularly indulgent, a little drop of cream would be the perfect accompaniment.
Enjoy
L x