This week, let’s pick up from where we left off on last week’s post with foods I despised as a kid…pears! I did not like them at all. To me, they were like mushy apples dipped in sand. It was sweet but the texture was so gritty. YUCK! Add it to a long list of things kids hate but grow to love in adulthood. My parents tried to trick me into eating pears with an old Chinese tale called “Kong Rong Give Pear”. I’m not going to give you an ancient Chinese lesson here, but definitely look it up. Long story short, the story didn’t work. I wasn’t eating that sand apple and they couldn’t make me. No way José! Now that I am older and wiser, I realize how amazing pears can be in both sweet and savory dishes. This week I decided to take my lesson from “Kong Rong” and share with you all my Paleo Ginger Spiced Sugar Pear Cake.
Ginger and pear is a flavor pairing made in heaven. That is why we have our Ginger Spiced Sugar Pear Cake. What is cool is that both pears and ginger are part of the fall harvest. Sometimes, we have to take a step back and let nature do the flavor “pearing” for us. Mother nature knows best! Either way, I’m not going to drag this on too long, let’s get started!
Paleo Ginger Spiced Sugar Pear Cake
3-4 – Poached Ruby Pears
½ Cup – Sliced Almonds
Cake:
1 Cup – Fresh Sugar Pears (Peel and Diced)
1 Cup – Otto’s Natural Cassava Flour
½ Cup – Organic Gemini Tiger Nut Flour
1 Cup – Coconut Palm Sugar¹
½ Cup – Desert Farm Raw Camel Milk²
½ Cup – Gold Nugget Ghee (Room Temp)
3 – Large Pasture Raised Eggs
2 Inches – Fresh Ginger (Grated)
1 Tsp – Ground Ginger Powder
2 Tsp – Ground Cinnamon
½ Tsp – Ground Nutmeg
¼ Tsp – Ground Allspice
2 Tsp – Paleo Baking Powder
Pinch – Salt
Frosting:
1 Batch – Paleo Frosting (Omit Lemon and Ginger)
1 Tsp – Almond Extract
Note¹: You can Substitute with ½ Honey or 1 Cup Raw Cane Sugar
Note²: Sub with Dairy Free Milk or Organic Gemini Horchata
Alright! You know each week, we talk about ingredients. Most of the ingredients for this Paleo Ginger Sugar Pear Cake are very straight forward. The spotlight is shining on the Sugar Pears. Also known as Seckel pears, sugar pears are relatively small in size but have the sweetest flavor profile of all pears in the U.S.. They are only available for a short period of time during early fall and I intend to take advantage of it! Once again, thank you Lile for always slinging the best fruits! These pears are as sweet as nectar. The other ingredient for the Ginger Spiced Sugar Pear Cake is…. GINGER! The older the ginger, the spicier it gets. For this recipe, I want it spicy. So look for older/aged gingers. Let’s get started!
Cake Instructions:
The first step to the Ginger Spiced Sugar Pear Cake is to preheat your oven to 350°F. After that, grease two 6-inch round cake pans. With a food processor, stand mixer or a hand mixer, blend all the cake ingredients (except the pears) together. Once all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, fold in the pears. Divide the batter into two halves and pour them into the previously prepped cake pans. Set the two cake pans on to a cookie sheet, that way it is easy to transfer in and out of the oven. Bake the cake for 40-50 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.
While the Ginger Spiced Sugar Pear Cake is baking, we can prepare the frosting. The frosting is extremely easy to make. Follow the recipe here but replace the lemon and ginger with 1 Tsp of Almond Extract. If the frosting is a little too stiff, try adding a tablespoon of camel milk or dairy-free milk.
Once the Ginger Spiced Sugar Pear Cake has baked, remove it from the cake pans and let them cool completely on wire racks. Once cooled, frost the cake as you normally would. Add the sliced almonds around the side of the cake and top it off with a few Paleo Poached Ruby Pears. There you have it, my Paleo Ginger Spiced Sugar Pear Cake. Until next time, eat up my friends!
