pear bundt cake with rye and ginger + a caramel sauce
As we're in the heart of winter, fruit options are limited to apples, oranges and lemons, blueberries and pears. As I've made a few things with lemons, blueberries and apples, I decided to make a pear cake. I turned to the ever reliable Helen Goh and decided to make her pear cake with rye and ginger.
I had some home made stem ginger in the cupboard and everything I needed I found except for the pears, a fruit I rarely purchase, and treacle so I used golden syrup instead. I decided to use my favourite bundt cake and kept my fingers crossed that I'd be able to unmould the cake successfully. Bundt cakes are notoriously tricky.
To date everything I've baked in this tin I've been able to unmould successfully and this cake was no exception.
The cake can be served as cake or a dessert. It was probably a case of gilding the lily but I had a jar of caramel sauce lurking in the fridge so I decided to serve the cake as a dessert with a dollop of cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce. I've attached the caramel sauce recipe for you, which makes much more than you need. The sauce keeps well stored in an airtight jar in the fridge. Just remember to rewarm it before using.
Here's the recipe for you adapted from a Helen Goh recipe. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60 g eggs. My oven is a conventional oven so if you have a fan-forced oven you may need to reduce the temperature by 20ºC.
Helen Goh Pear Cake with Rye and Ginger+ Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
80g unsalted butter, cubed
110g soft light brown sugar
75g treacle or golden syrup
50g ginger syrup or golden syrup
100ml full cream milk
30ml vegetable oil
1 large egg
50g stem ginger or crystallized ginger, roughly chopped
75g rye flour
50g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp mixed spice
¼ tsp salt
1 medium ripe pear peeled and cored and chopped into ½ cm pieces.
Method
Preheat oven to 190C. Grease and flour and small bundt tin and place in the fridge until needed.
Combine the butter, brown sugar, the golden and ginger syrups in a medium saucepan and place over low heat. Stir gently until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat. Add the milk and oil, whisking gently to combine, then add the eggs. Whisk until the mix is combined, then fold in the chopped ginger. Set aside for the moment.
Sift the flours, bicarbonate of soda, spices and salt into a large bowl, tipping in the bits of bran and germ from the rye flour caught in the sieve. Pour the wet, syrupy mixture into the dry ingredients, stir to combine, then fold in the chopped pears.
Scrape the batter into the prepared cake tin then place the cake on an oven tray and onto the middle shelf of the preheated oven. Bake for one hour (varies depending on how juicy the pears are) or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 10 minutes before removing the cake tin. Serve as is or you could top the still warm cake with the caramel sauce and a dollop of cream and serve this as a dessert or top the cooled cake with the glaze before serving.
Caramel sauce
1 cup cream
1 cup brown sugar
⅓ cup caster sugar
¼ cup golden syrup
¼ cup maple or ginger syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
Method
Put the cream, the sugars, syrup and vanilla in a small heavy-bottomed pot. Bring to the boil stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Continue to boil until a sugar thermometer registers 108°C. Remove from the heat then set aside for 20 minutes before whisking the mixture smooth. Add a pinch of salt to taste. It will still be runny at this stage but the caramel will continue to thicken as it cools. When it’s reached the desired consistency place the cake, still on the rack, over a sheet of baking paper before drizzling over. Any leftover sauce can be stored in an airtight jar in the fridge. Just remember to rewarm it before using.
Helen says the cake keeps well for up to four days. Slices may be warmed for a few seconds in the microwave before serving. I had my piece for dessert topped with caramel sauce, a dollop of cream and some stewed pears and it was absolutely delicious.
See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.
Bye for now,
Jillian
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