fly poster….

I foolishly forgot to include a recipe for the this wonderful pear cake in my last post so here it is. The recipe comes from Patricia Wells’ “The Provence Cookbook” which is among my favourite books of recipes. There is a common link between the cookery books that I use most and that link is the absence of recipe photographs: this book stays true to that ethic.

THREE PEAR CAKE  from “The Provence Cookbook” by Patricia Wells

Ingredients

Spring form pan or loose bottom cake tin 9”

Cake
0.5 cup all purpose flour
0.3 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
0.5 tsp fine sea salt ( I leave this out)
0.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs lightly beaten
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp eau de vie poire Willian
0.3 cup yoghourt
Grated zest of one lemon
4 x large pears, peeled, cored. Cut lengthwise into 1/16’s

Topping
0.5 cup sugar
1 large egg lightly beaten
1 tbsp eau de vie poire William
Grated zest of one lemon

1/Preheat oven to 180C. Butter and flour cake pan.

2/In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and stir to blend. Add the vanilla, eggs, oil, eau de vie, yoghourt, and lemon zest and stir until well blended.. Add the pears and stir to thoroughly coat the fruit with the batter

3/Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake pan and place it in the middle of the preheated oven. Bake until fairly firm and golden; about 40 mins.

4/Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the sugar, egg, eau de vie and lemon zest and stir to blend. Set aside.

5/Once the cake is firm and golden, remove it from the oven and the the topping mixture on top of the cake and return it to the oven for a further 10 mins.

6/Remove to a rack to cool. After 10 mins, run a knife around the edge of the pan and release the cake from the pan, leaving the base under the cake.