Spicy pear cake

I baked this spicy pear cake to use up a glut of the fruit (read more about that here) and I was very pleased with the results. This is a recipe from the Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook, one of founder Lynn Hill's recipes from CCC Leeds. I served this cake warm with custard as a pudding - ingenious! Lynn has kindly agreed that I can post this on my little blog (thanks Lynn!).

2 pears, peeled cored and quartered
Juice of 1/2 lemon
115g butter
115g light muscovado sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp buttermilk (I didn't have any, so used a bit of plain yogurt mixed with a little milk)
115g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 190C (170C fan).
Prepare a 20cm round loose-bottomed tin.
Place the pears in a bowl with the lemon juice to prevent them from discolouring.
Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Combine the eggs and buttermilk, then add to the sugar and butter mix.
Add the flour and spices gradually until thoroughly combined.
Pour the batter into the tin. Pat the pears dry with kitchen towel, then place artfully on top of the batter.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Serve warm with lashing of custard. Perfect!

Cranberry and pear muffins

We went to a friend's 30th birthday party last month, where said friend got a little bit merry. At midnight, she decided we should pick some pears from the tree in their garden. In the pitch darkness, I managed to pick about 10 pears, but goodness know how. They weren't even ripe, and only became edible last week. They turned quite suddenly, so I needed to find a fun recipe to use some up. Cranberry and pear muffins sounded perfect. I'm entering these into the Calendar Cakes December blog challenge, hosted by the fabulous Dolly Bakes and Laura Loves Cakes.

These are quite festive and Christmassy, you could even decorate them with fresh cranberries and some foliage to look like holly.

300g self-raising flour
1/2tsp bicarb
150g caster sugar
2/3tsp mixed spice
2 eggs, beaten
100ml yoghurt
75ml milk
100g marg, melted and cooled a bit
3 pears, peeled, cored, and diced
60g dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan). Line a 12-hole muffin tin (I used some fancy muffin cases from last year's Good Food Show).
Mix the flour, bicar, sugar, and spice and sift into a big bowl
Combine eggs, yoghurt, milk, and butter. Add the pears and cranberries.
Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Spoon into the muffin cases
Bake for about 20 minutes.
Decorate with a little plain icing and a few dried cranberries.

Pear and ginger pudding

Puddings make the world go round. Or, they do in our house at least. My boyfriend can't go far without pudding after his dinner. This pear and ginger sponge pudding is simple but very taste, and good for budgets.

4oz butter
4oz caster sugar
4oz self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 tin pear halves
1/2 crystallised ginger piece

Cream together the butter and sugar until,pale and fluffy.
Beat the eggs, then stir into the mixture.
Sieve the flour and add to mixture.
Meanwhile, drain the pear halves, and arrange on the bottom of a suitable ovenproof dish.
Chop the ginger then sprinkle over the pear halves.
Spoon the sponge mixture over the pears and smooth.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees (160 fan) for about 40-50 minutes. I think that was how long it took - I took it out after about 30 minutes and it was still batter in the middle, and it seemed to take ages.
Serve with a little cream, if you like.

You could put more ginger in if you like more of a tang, as this amount was quite subtle but worked well.

I would like to enter this into the brilliant Tea Time Treats blog challenge for February, this month hosted by the lovely What Kate Baked.

What a lovely pear

Last night's pudding was poached pears, spicey chocolate custard, and crumble baked separately.

To poach the pears, peel and place in a saucepan of water, with:
1tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Bit of orange zest
Poach for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the crumble mix:
1oz butter
1oz sugar
2oz plain flour
Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, until golden and crunchy.

Make the custard as normal (Bird's powder, I'm afraid, one of my guilty pleasures) and then while it's thickening place about 20g of Green & Black's dark chocolate with orange and delicate spices, and stir briskly to melt.

Serve in a large teacup.

One of my favourite puddings. The poach is lightly spiced, the chocolate has a lovely warmth and delicate kick, and the crumble adds more comfort and texture. A brilliant pudding for chilly nights in. Comforting for the soul when you need it most, when you feel let down and disillusioned with the world and those around you - there's nothing quite like custard to heal.