- Recipes
Pear and Almond Cake with Almond Crunch Topping
The crunch of almonds and fragrance of pears in this cake makes it a lovely rendition for any occasion. The hidden fruit retains its moisture and sweetness, while Billington’s caster sugar and muscovado sugar enhances the flavour of the cake.
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Pear and Almond Cake with Almond Crunch Topping
A lovely fruit and nut cake, moist and fragrant. Suits every palate.
Prep. Time
30 min
Cook Time
1 hour
Total Time
1 hr 30 min
Ingredients
Softened Butter 175g
Billington’s Golden
Caster Sugar 150g
Vanilla Essence 1 tsp
Eggs 100g
Self-Raising Flour 220g
Baking Soda 1/2 tsp
Ground Nutmeg 1 tsp
Sour Cream 140ml
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Ground almonds 50g
Firm Pears 2
A little lemon juice
For the almond crunch topping:
Butter 50g
Double Cream 2tbsp
Slivered Almonds 75g
Billington’s Light
Muscovado Sugar 50g
Method
1. Line a 20cm springform tin with non stick baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, adding a spoonful of the flour with the second egg. Sift the remaining flour, a pinch of salt, bicarbonate of soda and the nutmeg together.
4. Fold half the flour into the creamed mixture. Fold in the soured cream, zest and almonds, then the remaining flour.
5. Peel, core and slice the pears. Toss with lemon juice to prevent discolouration. Spread half of the cake mixture over the base of the tin, cover with the pears, then the remaining cake mixture. Bake for 40 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, make the almond topping. Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the sugar and cream, then stir in the almonds.
7. Remove the cake from the oven and pour the almond mixture evenly over the top. Bake for a further 20-25 minutes, or until the topping is toffee-coloured and a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake. Remove and serve warm or cold.