Description
This sticky Ginger and Pear Cake brings together two flavours that are best friends! Using stem ginger brings a complexity of flavour and luscious moistness to this easy cake recipe.
Ingredients
Scale
For cake:
- 125 g butter
- 175 g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 175 g self-raising flour
- 3 pieces of stem ginger
- 4 tablespoons syrup from a jar of stem ginger
- 1 large, ripe pear
For topping:
- 1 piece of stem ginger
- 1 tablespoon of syrup from a jar of stem ginger
Instructions
- Set your oven to 180 degrees centigrade or Gas Mark 4.
- Grease a 450 g loaf tin and line the bottom with baking parchment.
- Cream the butter with the sugar in a large bowl. (I usually soften the butter for about 30 seconds in the microwave first as it makes it much easier!)
- Gradually add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture. If it looks as if it is going to curdle, add some of the self-raising flour.
- Once the eggs have been incorporated add the rest of the self-raising flour.
- Finely chop your pieces of stem ginger and add them to the cake mixture along with the syrup from the jar of stem ginger.
- Spoon the cake mixture into your prepared loaf tin.
- Take the skin off your pear. I find the easiest way to do this is with a vegetable peeler. Cut the pear in half lengthwise and, using a small knife, remove the core and any pips. Place the two halves of the pear on top of the cake mixture.
- Put the tin in the oven and bake the cake for 45 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.
- When the cake is cool, remove it from the tin.
- To decorate the cake, using a pastry brush, paint the top with the ginger syrup. Cut up the piece of stem ginger and scatter the pieces over the top of the cake.