Pear Cake (Using Fresh Whole Pears – No Peeling Necessary)
Pear cake will be your number one recipe for using fresh pears! Use the whole pear because no peeling is necessary which makes it super easy, and incredibly delicious. Everyone will ask for the recipe!
Get ready to bookmark this fresh pear cake recipe!
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What to do with lots of Pears?
Make pear cake! Once you make it once, you’re going to want to make this cake over and over again. How do I know? Because this recipe base which comes from this Sicilian whole orange cake is fabulous, no matter what fruit I use in it!
Most recently, I tried the cake with fresh apples and oh boy, it was fantastic. In fact, it kind of went viral and was one of my top recipes right after I posted it. The apple cake was so good, it inspired me to try a pear cake! It has a fabulous texture and is incredibly moist! The other reason everyone loves it is because it’s so darned easy to make! No need to peel the fresh pears in this recipe (but do use organic fruit for this reason).
Let me tell you, everyone who has tried the apple cake and the pear cake has raved about them! In fact, I recently made an apple and pear cake, using fresh apples and pears together (twice) and it was really good, too! I dropped one off for a friend and she said her family loved it and thanked me for the “amazing cake”!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the only thing you’ll want to make with pears as they are such a magnificent (and I think, underappreciated) fruit. You may remember my mother’s poached pears in wine recipe, well, this cake is almost as easy!
Can you Freeze Pear Cake?
Yes, you can absolutely freeze this fresh pear cake, as I’ve frozen all the fruit cakes made using this recipe and it freezes exceptionally well! I wouldn’t keep it in the freezer longer than a month, though.
I’ve since added another pear cake to my site, this delicious honey pear cake!
As you can see, my pears weren’t even close to being perfect, but the cake still tasted marvelous!
Let’s get to the recipe, shall we? You’re going to love it!
Pear Cake
slightly adapted from my apple cake recipe serves 10
FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW
Make the Batter
Prepare an 8″ springform pan by spraying with oil (or butter) and lining in parchment paper (sides optional, only if you want really clean sides), then spray the paper, too.
In a food processor, or blender, process the pear pieces (do not peel unless they’re not organic) and lemon juice. My pears were quite soft, so this puréed result is fine.
Place the sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until light and fluffy. Sift the flour with the baking powder then add to the mixture in the bowl a little at a time along with the softened butter. Continue to mix until completely blended, then stir in the yogurt.
Add the processed pears to the cake batter along with vanilla, and stir until evenly combined.
That’s it, you’re done! Now pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake the Pear Cake
Place the tin into the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes (depending on your oven), but test with a cake tester or skewer to make sure the pear cake is done before removing from the oven. If desired, sprinkle lightly with some granulated, Demerara or raw sugar immediately. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then remove the side of the springform pan.
Serve the Pear Cake.
Let cool before cutting and serving.
You can really taste the pear (don’t be tempted to add spices before making this recipe as written first). Nothing wrong with eating a slice while it’s still a wee bit warm!
Or you can be more civilized and serve it on a plate with cutlery!
Any way you serve it-it’s fabulous!
And one last pear recipe for you from my friend, Cynthia: Poire Belle Hélène (poached pears with chocolate).
Pear Cake (Using Whole Pears - No Peeling Necessary)
Special Equipment
- 1 food processor (or blender)
Ingredients
- 2 large pears (organic, or 3 small pears) weighing is recommended - click the metric button above
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 3 eggs
- 1 ⅛ cup sugar
- 2 cups all purpose flour (plain flour in the UK)
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder or 1 packet Italian Paneangeli vanilla baking powder
- ⅓ cup butter softened
- ⅓ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp sugar to sprinkle on top (optional)
Instructions
Make the Pear Cake Batter:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C)
- Prepare an 8" springform pan by spraying with oil (or butter) and lining in parchment paper (sides optional, if you want really clean sides), then spray the paper, too.
- Wash, core and cut the pear(s) into pieces.
- In a food processor or blender, process the pear pieces and lemon juice until it is almost pureed.
- Place the sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until light and fluffy. Sift the flour with the baking powder then add to the mixture in the bowl a little at a time along with the softened butter. Continue to mix until completely blended, then stir in the yogurt.
- Add the processed pears and vanilla to the cake batter and stir until evenly combined.
- Pour into prepared cake tin.
Bake the Cake:
- Bake for 50-60 minutes (depending on your oven), but test with a cake tester or skewer to make sure the pear cake is done before removing from the oven. If desired, sprinkle lightly with some granulated sugar immediately. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then remove the side of the springform pan.
- Let cool before cutting and serving.
- The cake can stand on its own, but you can also serve it with a fruit sauce, dollop of whipped cream, custard or vanilla ice cream. I prefer it plain with a cup of tea!
Notes
- Do not peel, but remove the core/seeds pears should be just ripe, not overly ripe, or underripe
- It's important to weigh the fruit in this recipe due to how pears vary in size.
Nutrition
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Between this recipe and Sicilian orange cake I’ve made these at least a dozen times since finding Christina’s Cucina,.
If you haven’t guessed it already, we love them! And they freeze well too.
You’re a sweetheart, Linda! Thank you so much, this means a lot to me! I will use this in one of my reviews of the week in my newsletter!
Hi Christina thank you for the recipe. Can you omit the eggs ?
Hi Vidya, no the eggs are part of what makes this cake rise properly, sorry.
This is my new favourite cake! Only thing I did differently was that I peeled the pears because the skin was a bit bruised. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe!
That’s wonderful, Maryam! I would peel them, too! :) Try the apple cake, too!