October is here before I know it, and, besides traditional apples and pumpkins, of course I need to use up pears as well. I’m posting the pear cake recipe a little late again this year, but hopefully you’ll still find those four pears in a garden. While scrolling on social media, I came across a photo of a pear cake with ricotta filling between two sponge cakes. I don’t really like ricotta, I much prefer mascarpone, so I made my own version. Spiced Pear Mascarpone Cheesecake Cake is a cake-torte with two cake layers with “fall” spices, creamy mascarpone filling and sweet pears. I adapted my sponge cake batter from the blog, but also I wanted it to have a nice golden color and fall flavor. You can achieve this with the dark honey and the combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and gingerbread spice. The sponge cake is soft yet holds its shape nicely and the filling doesn’t fall out. The filling is so classic, made of whipped heavy cream and mascarpone to bring out the flavor of the pears. I just added more gelatin to make sure it holds its shape well. Finally, the pears, they are shortly cooked to soften them a bit and to let the juices out. This cake-torte is a great dessert for a celebration or just for Sunday coffee – and it’s not even as time-consuming as it may seem.
- Cake:
- 90 g butter at room temperature
- 120 g sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon dark honey
- 140 g all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon gingerbread spice
- 125 ml whole milk
- Pears:
- 4 pears
- 4 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Filling:
- 200 g heavy cream
- 500 g mascarpone
- 2 tablespoon icing sugar
- 20 g gelatin powder
- 4 tablespoon water
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Cake:
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Beat butter until fluffy.
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Add sugar and beat again.
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Separate the eggs into whites and yolks, folding the yolks into the butter. Add vanilla extract and honey to the mixture and beat again with the mixer.
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In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger and gingerbread spice.
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Using a spatula, fold half of the flour mixture into the batter. Add half of the milk, stir to combine, and again add the other half of the flour mixture and milk.
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In another bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt using a mixer until stiff and not liquid anymore. Gradually fold the beaten egg whites into the batter. Mix well.
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Pour the batter into a baking pan covered with baking paper.
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Bake at 180 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
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Leave to cool and cut the cake in half.
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Pears:
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Peel and dice the pears.
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Put them in a saucepan, add sugar and lemon juice.
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Cook over medium heat for 7-10 minutes (depending on the hardness of the pears).
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Let cool.
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Filling:
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Whip heavy cream.
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Add mascarpone and icing sugar, beat on low speed.
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Stir in the cooked cooled pears (along with the water they released during cooking).
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Prepare the gelatin as directed - pour 1 packet into 4 tablespoons of water. Heat until the gelatin dissolves, then stir in a few tablespoons of the mixture. Pour the gelatin mixture into the rest of the mixture, mix well.
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Place the first half of the cake layer in the bottom of the cake baking pan, spread over the pear mascarpone filling evenly, then place the second half of the cake layer on top of the pear mascarpone filling. Press gently and put in the fridge overnight to set.
- Baking pan - 23 cm
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