Rich, moist this classic pear cake of the season has a special twist.
Pear slices are poached in wine with some cloves to give the whole cake an incredible flavor and smell.
Full Recipe
Wine Poached Pear Cake
Rich, moist caked filled with wine poached pears. One of the best cakes to enjoy during cold season.
SERVINGS: 18
Equipment
- Springform Bund Pan 10 inch
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 3 cups flour (packed)
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- 7 oz butter (softened)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 5 eggs (egg yolks separated from egg whites)
- ½ cup milk
Poached Pear Filling
- 2 lb pears
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon clove powder or 5 clove buds
Decoration
- 3-4 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Wash and peel pears, remove the core.
- Cut in ¼ inch slices. Set 10-12 slices aside.
- Put the rest in a skillet pan on medium heat. Add sugar, white wine, clove buds or powder. Poach pears for a few minutes, turn off the heat and let them cool completely.
- If you used clove buds, remove them.
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Beat egg whites with half of sugar until medium peaks.
- In a separate bowl beat butter, remaining sugar and egg yolks.
- Incorporate sifted flour and baking powder.
- Add milk and syrup drained from poached pears, mix well.
- Fold in pear slices. Also fold in egg whites one spoon at a time.
- Grease and flour a 9-10 inch springform bundt pan. Transfer the cake batter in the pan, top with pear slices you’ve previously set aside.
- Sprinkle with brown sugar.
- Bake in a preheated to 375F oven to 50-60 minutes.
Notes
For this recipe measure flour BEFORE sifting. This is very important for the right proportion of the ingredients. And I assume you always sift flour before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients.
Time in the oven greatly depends on the size of the pan. The larger the pan (in diameter) less time it needs in the oven. But considering it's a pretty generous cake it'll not take less than 45 minutes in any case.
Once the cake is ready leave it in the oven (turned off) for another 10 minutes.
I use a springform bundt pan to make this cake. Regular bundt pan simply won't work as designed. Meaning that you should flip this cake upside down. Having said that you can still use a regular bundt pan or any cake pan for that matter and adjust in one of the ways:
1. Use all pears in the filling and simply decorate the cake with confectioneers sugar.
2. Still make the cake per instructions and when you take it out of the pan flip twice to have the beautiful pear decoration on top.
2. Still make the cake per instructions and when you take it out of the pan flip twice to have the beautiful pear decoration on top.
Nutrition
Calories: 288kcalCarbohydrates: 44gProtein: 4gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.4gCholesterol: 70mgSodium: 163mgPotassium: 118mgFiber: 2gSugar: 25gVitamin A: 365IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 67mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Have a question or want to let me know you loved the recipe?Leave a comment below! I love hearing from you!
And one more picture to make your mouth water 🙂
Buon Appetito!
Sean says
First time Bundt cake Maker here. After pouring the batter into the pan I had the withheld pears and brown sugar that now would be on the bottom of the finished cake. Shouldn’t the instructions say to put in the pears and brown sugar after piling and flouring the pan?
Italian Recipe Book says
Hi Sean, thank you for making my recipe and your commenting. The instructions to the recipe are all correct. BUT, I'm using a spring form bundt pan which you don't have to flip after baking. I apologize I've missed adding this important note in the recipe. Will definitely update it now. In case you don't have a springform bundt pan handy, you can still make the recipe but I recommend using all the pears in the filling and just dusting the cake with confectioneers sugar for decoration.