Red Wine and Pear Cake

Red Wine and Pear Cake

Recipe courtesy of The Italian Home Cook by Silvia Colloca, Macmillan Publishers, RRP $39.99

I am pretty confident that most mammas in Italy have a trusted recipe featuring red wine and pears. Here the match is undeniably appealing – the perfume from the spiced wine mingles with the softness of the pears, which are immersed in a fluffy, ephemerally light batter. This is an impressive dessert when served with some whipped cream and the reduced poaching syrup drizzled on top, or a formidable tea cake, best accompanied by a shot of grappa.

Red Wine and Pear CakeSERVES 6–8

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 100 g caster sugar
  • 75 ml olive oil
  • 170 g self-raising flour, sifted
  • 55 g (1⁄2 cup) almond meal
  • cinnamon sugar, for dusting (see Notes)

POACHED PEARS

  • 3 william pears, peeled, cut in half lengthways and cored
  • 500 ml (2 cups) red wine
  • 50 g soft brown sugar
  • 1 vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves

NOTES

To make your own cinnamon sugar, combine 1 tablespoon of icing sugar with 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon and mix well.

You can remove the vanilla bean and reduce the remaining poaching liquid for 15–20 minutes or until syrupy. For a decadent dessert, serve the syrup alongside slices of the cake and whipped cream. Or you can go full-on Italian and serve the cooled cake with a shot of espresso or grappa – or both!

Method

  1. Start by making the poached pears. Place the pear halves snugly in a small saucepan. Add the wine, brown sugar, vanilla bean and seeds and spices and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover with a lid of baking paper cut to fit and cook for 45–50 minutes or until the pear is soft. Allow the pear to cool in the poaching liquid.
  2. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Line a 22 cm round springform cake tin or a 40 cm × 30 cm rectangular baking dish with baking paper.
  3. Whisk the eggs and caster sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the olive oil, flour and almond meal and mix well.
  4. Remove the pear from the poaching liquid and set aside. Pour 100 ml of the poaching liquid into the flour mixture and gently mix to create a loose batter. Pour the cake batter into the tin, then arrange the pear halves on top, some cut-side up and some cut-side down. Bake for 35–40 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the tin. Dust with cinnamon sugar to serve.

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