Pear Cake with Caramel Sauce

This moist pear is the perfect, seasonal holiday dessert. 

Pear cake sounds like a good thing, but when you add caramel sauce, it becomes a great thing! This pear cake was born out of my constant mission to use up all the old stuff in my pantry, which in this case, was polenta. I had a box of polenta in there from last year. I don’t particularly like polenta, so I was trying to figure out how to use it without just eating it normally. That’s when the stars aligned.

My friends at Melissa’s Produce  sent me a sample of their new organic home delivery boxes. Think CSA but slightly more customized. Mine included a ton of citrus fruit, pears, apples and avocados. Seeing as I’d been traveling quite a bit, all the citrus went directly into my body to combat catching a cold. That left me with apples, pears and avocados. Well, The Hubs and I eat avocados daily so that was no biggie, and the apples made delicious afternoon snacks, but the pears just sat there. I love pears, but for some reason, they’re not something I reach for when I want a snack.

The final piece of the pear cake puzzle was a super cool Individual Slice Cake Pan The Hubs bought me for Christmas.  I hadn’t used it yet, but it was calling my name from the cabinet.

polenta+pears+cool cake pan=pear cake

I bet you didn’t know I was so good at math.

This cake turned out great! The cake pan worked like a charm, and all the slices were perfect and golden brown. I just felt like it was missing a little something. I had actually bought vanilla ice cream that I planned to eat with it, but forgot it was in the freezer, so I took a cue from my friend Jen’s  classic holiday dessert, pear pie with caramel sauce, and whipped up a caramel sauce of my own.

Oh yes. Perfection.

4.67 from 3 votes

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Pear Cake with Caramel Sauce

This moist pear is the perfect, seasonal holiday dessert. 

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 8 servings

Calories 493 kcal

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. cornmeal
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 c. buttermilk
• 1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. Gourmet Garden fresh ginger
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 3 pears diced

For the caramel sauce

• 1 c. packed brown sugar
• 1/2 c. half & half
• 4 T. butter
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

To prepare the cake

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Coat an 8-inch round cake pan with cooking spray; line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Coat paper with cooking spray. Set aside. **or use an individual slice cake pan sprayed with cooking spray
3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, oil, and eggs stirring well with a whisk. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, stirring until moist.
4. Stir in vanilla, ginger and lemon zest
5. Fold in diced pears
6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in the pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

To make the caramel sauce

1. Mix the brown sugar, half-and-half, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
2. Whisk constantly for 5 to 7 minutes, until it gets thicker.
3. Add the vanilla and cook another minute to thicken further.
4. Turn off the heat, cool slightly, then refrigerate until thick.
5. Pour over cake and enjoy

Nutrition Facts

Pear Cake with Caramel Sauce

Amount Per Serving (1 g)

Calories 493 Calories from Fat 144

% Daily Value*

Fat 16g25%

Sodium 152mg6%

Carbohydrates 83g28%

Sugar 57g63%

Protein 5g10%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

If you want to learn how you can have boxes of organic fruits and vegetable shipped directly to your house from Melissa’s, check out their site HERE

If you want to get your own super awesome individual slice cake pan, you can buy one HERE

Caramel sauce not for sale.

Looking for more pear recipes?

Bacon Wrapped Goat Cheese Stuffed Pears

Pear, Brie and Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Roasted Pears with Bleu Cheese

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