Name: Pear, Almond and Vanilla Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 55 min
Ingredients: 130g ground almonds; 50g plain/all-purpose flour; 125g caster sugar; ¼ teaspoon baking powder; ¼ teaspoon fine salt; 100g unsalted butter, melted; 2 eggs; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 2 – 3 fresh pears; 100g icing sugar; 1-2 tablespoons milk; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 25g flaked almonds

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A light, moist almond and vanilla sponge, topped with a layer of softly cooked pears, finished with vanilla icing and roast almonds, this delectable Pear, Almond and Vanilla Cake is incredibly easy to make and ridiculously good to eat.

**Delicious for breakfast with yoghurt and fruit**

What is the best way to serve this cake?

This cake is as delicious served simply with a cup of tea or coffee as it is when served with cream or ice cream for dessert. Or, why not serve it with natural yoghurt and fresh fruit for breakfast? 3 cakes in 1 – how fabulous! Andrew is a massive almond fan and he LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this cake – in fact, we all did!

Where is this recipe from?

This recipe is adapted from the Almond and Pistachio Cake with Pears and Lemon that I posted a few months ago. This cake, in turn, was slightly adapted from a recipe from a fabulous blog I follow, called The Brick Kitchen, or on insta as @claudiabrick. The original recipe is topped with apricots, and these would also work wonderfully well in this recipe.

Lyngen Lodge

This is my version of a Vanilla and Pear Cake we enjoyed on our trip to Lyngen Lodge last April. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get a photograph of it before it was decimated by hungry skiers! I added almonds to the cake, as I think it makes it more interesting, and I know Clare loves anything with almonds and marzipan. I also drizzled it with a little vanilla icing.

How to make Pear, Almond and Vanilla Cake

Collect all your ingredients together:

Dry ingredients –

ground almonds
plain/all-purpose flour
caster sugar
baking powder
fine salt

Wet ingredients –

unsalted butter, melted
eggs
vanilla extract
fresh pears

To decorate –

icing sugar
milk
vanilla extract
flaked almonds

How to make this incredible cake:

Weigh out the flaked almonds for the topping onto a baking sheet and cook in a preheated oven for 3 – 5 minutes, until lightly browned, and set aside.
Weigh the butter into a microwave safe bowl or jug and blitz, in 15 second increments, to melt. Alternatively, melt in a saucepan on the hob. Set aside to cool.
Weigh all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl – the ground almonds, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter. Beat to mix.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold to mix.
Tip into a lined cake tin and level the surface.
Peel and quarter the pears, remove the core and slice each quarter.
Lay the pear slices evenly on the cake batter.
Bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven for 45 – 50 minutes or until the cake is cooked and the pears are soft.
Remove from the oven and after 10 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack. I leave mine in the baking parchment. Set aside to cool.

Now prepare the topping:

Gradually add the vanilla and milk to the icing sugar until it is smooth and reaches pouring consistency.
Use a spoon to drizzle the icing over the cake.
Scatter the roast almonds over the cake.

Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.