This is one of the best cakes I've ever made. I did modify it a little, though. I omitted the nuts, because I wanted to share this with my neighbor and she hates nuts. I cut the pears like I would my apples for apple pie, and I didn't puree them, which was ideal for this cake. You can cut back on the oil by 1/4 cup and it will remain moist. I will continue cutting back on the oil 1/4 cup at a time until I get to a point where I know I need to stop. I did this with my cousin's zucchini bread recipe and I was able to cut it from 1-cup to 1/3 cups. By reducing the oil you can reduce the fat content in this recipe. Also, use "ripe" pears, ones where the skin has started to go from green to yellow. If the pears aren't "ripe" you won't get the full flavor of this deliciously moist cake.
I wish I had cooked this in a loaf pan (I cooked it in the specified 9 by 13 pan)...it was much more like a dense sweet bread than a cake. My pears were very ripe (hubby couldn't believe I wasn't throwing them away! LOL) & I let them sit in the sugar mixture for longer than an hour (got distracted & left them for about 3 hours)...they had a lot of liquid in them so I decreased the oil down to 1/4 of a cup but I think it probably needed just a bit more. This cake has a very unique, subtle flavor that gets better bite after bite. I frosted this w/ Brown Sugar Sauce (from this site). My hubby ate two huge pieces! I forgot to add that the cooking time is indeed wayy off. I set the oven for an hour but because of my obsessive habit of opening the oven door, I caught it just in the nick of time w/ about 10 minutes still left on the timer.
Perfect use for overripe pears. I used hand mixer & left small chunks which added nice texture also added ginger & cinnamon and cut oil to 2/3 cup and cook time to 50 min.
Thank goodness for Grandmas recipes. I use my Grannys whenever I can. This is a GOOD cake and the Best way of using up RIPENING pears. My kids loved it and my neighbors want the recipe. I dont like changing recipes the first time out but I topped with cream cheese icing and subbed WHEAT flour for the all purpose ( I got caught with just a cup or so of A/P and had no choice ). Results were very favorable. THANX
This was absolutely fabulous. I used EXTREMELY ripe pears which I think help make it so delicious. My mother-in-law even asked for the recipe (a FIRST!). I used a simple powdered sugar and milk glaze which was perfect. Thanks so much for this keeper!
WOW!! I just made this cake about and hour ago and it is awesome! This cake is so moist I wouldn't recommend changing anything although I did add a dash of cinnamon. I also made a simple vanilla icing for equal parts confectioners sugar and butter (1lb and 1 cup) and.5 tsp vanilla extract and it made it so sweet and tasty. All my boyfriend could say is "WOW!!" with a mouth full of it! Thanks so much for this awesome recipe!!
This was a beautiful cake which we enjoyed both warm with cream and cold with tea. I disagree that it is bland: all that it needs is beautiful perfumed ripe pears. If you have those then spices aren't necessary. Make it and enjoy it!
Double the pears and cut the sugar in half. It will still be a Fabulously sweet cake.
I tried making half the recipe in a loaf tin - it was done in around 50 minutes. A wonderful and unusual loaf - I love the way the sugars form a toffee sauce with the pecans over the pear before adding to the flour. The pecan flavour was great - but my pears weren't "dripping" ripe so the pear taste was a bit lost. Will definitely make again many times and try to get riper pairs!
