The Perfect Pear Spice Cake

 

My husband declares when I make him something new, "this is the best _________ I have ever had!"  I love this about him. His enthusiastic endorsements of my baking efforts keep me cooking and keep his belly full.  Yesterday with a bowl of ripening baby Bosch pears sitting on the counter, I was determined to make something different, something to celebrate the arrival of autumn. 

Pear Walnut Spice Cake

Ingredients 

Cake:

• 1 cup golden raisins
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 cups peeled pear chunks (from about 3 pears)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 4 oz. of cream cheese (room temperature)
• 2 tablespoons of cream

 

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Place the raisins and walnuts in a bowl and toss them with 2 tablespoons of the flour until lightly coated (this will prevent them from sinking in the cake batter during baking). 

To make the cake: Beat the eggs and sugars in a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using a hand mixer) until fluffy. With the mixer running, slowly pour in the vanilla and the oil. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice. Mix into the egg mixture. Mix in the pears, then stir in the raisins and walnuts by hand, distributing them evenly in the batter. Pour into a 10-inch tube pan and bake about 45 to 60 minutes, until springy and dry in the center. 

Let cool in the pan on a wire rack, 
then turn it out. 

To make the glaze: Stir the maple syrup, cream cheese and sugar together in a bowl.  Add cream to loosen if necessary. Glaze the cooled cake by spooning the glaze around the top of the cake and letting it drip down the sides. 

Enjoy after a nice hearty fall stew or even with your morning coffee. 

Recipe adapted from Gale Gand.