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Italian Almond Pear Cake (gluten-free)

I found out about this classic Italian Almond Pear Cake recipe when asked to make a cake for my Grandmother’s 93rd birthday this past September. My brother had just harvested several pounds of pears from a tree my Italian grandfather planted many moons ago. The unique part about this recipe is how little flour it uses and how the pears are placed on top of the cake batter, allowing the cake to rise around the pears. Many recipes you will find online for this type of cake call for a springform cake pan. In my experience this is unnecessary. Just butter and flour your typical 9″ diameter cake pan. This recipe is simple and easy to throw in the oven and impress your guests.

Recipe for Italian Almond Pear Cake

Equipment: Hand mixer or standup mixer, cake pan

Ingredients:

  • 1 stick of butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated cane sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup almond flour or ground almonds
  • 1/3 cup flour or  an all purpose gluten-free flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • ½  teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3-4 ripe pairs, peeled and cored and cut into large pieces (halved if possible)
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • powdered sugar for garnish
  • sliced almonds

Steps:

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F
  2. Butter and flour a cake pan and set aside
  3. Cream butter and sugar
  4. Add the eggs one at a time
  5. Then add vanilla to the butter, sugar, egg mixture.
  6. Next, in separate bowl mix the flour, spices, and baking powder
  7. Then add the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture.
  8. Once it is uniformly incorporated spread evenly into the bottom of the floured cake pan, it should only take up an inch or less
  9. Arrange pears on top of the batter, as the cake rises it will rise around the pears
  10. Bake in oven for 30 minutes and remove, add the almonds on top. Place back in oven for another 5-10 minutes until knife or tooth pick come out clean.
  11. Let it cool, remove from pan and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

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