Pear Cake With Creme Anglaise

1 hours 0 mins Prep Time

50 mins Cook Time

Written By

Tara Omidvar

Pear cake is an elegant dessert, perfect for any special occasion. This cake does have a few steps and it might look complicated, but every step is not that hard and you can easily pull it off at home.

Serving this cake with creme anglaise is optional, but the combination of pear and custard is exceptional. To make the process easier, you can poach pears in advance and make the cake on the day you want to serve it. You can keep the pears in liquid and store them in the fridge for up to a week. In fact, the more it stays in the liquid, the tastier it will be.

Enjoy the pear cake warm or cold with just icing sugar on top or make it fancier with creme anglaise.

Ingredients

Poached Pear

3 bosc pears (peeled)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup white wine
3 cups water
1/2 vanilla bean or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste
4 cardamom
2 star anise

Chocolate Cake

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk

Creme Anglaise

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 vanilla bean

Directions

Poached Pear

2 Steps

Step 1

In a medium saucepan, add sugar, wine, water, vanilla, cardamom and star anise. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat down to a simmer. Add the pears and let simmer for about 20 minutes.
Step 2

Take the pears out and let cool down.

Chocolate Cake

7 Steps

Step 1

In the meantime, start making the cake and preheat the oven to 350°F.
Step 2

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the sugar and butter. Beat with the paddle attachment until soft and creamy.
Step 3

Add the eggs one at a time and beat until doubled in volume and light in colour. Add the vanilla and beat for another minute.
Step 4

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into the bowl. Beat just until everything is combined. Add the milk and beat for another minute.
Step 5

Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
Step 6

Pour half of the cake batter into the loaf pan. Place the pears bottom side down on top of the batter. Pour rest of the batter into the loaf pan.
Step 7

Bake for 50-55 minutes, then allow to sit for 20 minutes on a cooling rack before removing from the pan.

Creme Anglaise

5 Steps

Step 1

Combine milk and cream in a heavy medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean and add it to the saucepan. Bring milk mixture to a simmer, remove from heat.
Step 2

Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl to blend.
Step 3

Gradually whisk hot milk mixture into yolk mixture. Return custard to saucepan.
Step 4

Whisk over low heat until custard thickens for about 5 minutes.
Step 5

Serve the cake with creme anglaise and enjoy!