Served warm or cold, this pear cake has all the comforting spices of winter.

Ingredients

• 125 ml (½ cup) plain yoghurt
• 3 eggs
• 5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence
• 125 ml (½ cup) butter, melted
• 315 ml (1¼ cups) cake flour
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) brown sugar
• 7.5 ml (1½ tsp) baking powder
• 2.5 ml (½ tsp) bicarbonate of soda
• 1 x 410 g can Rhodes Quality Pear Halves in Syrup, drained and chopped
  Crumb
• 250 ml (1 cup) cake flour
• 65 ml (¼ cup) brown sugar
• 5 ml (1 tsp) ground cinnamon
• 2 ml (½ tsp) ground nutmeg
• 2 ml (½ tsp) ground ginger
• 125 ml (½ cup) butter, softened

Method

1. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in the bowl of an electric mixer.
2. Whisk together the yoghurt, eggs, vanilla essence, and melted butter.
3. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.
4. Pour the batter into a baking dish which has been sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with baking paper.
5. Arrange the Rhodes Quality Pear pieces over the top of the batter.
6. Bake the cake in an oven that has been preheated to 180ºC for 20 to 25 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, make the crumb.
8. Place all the dry ingredients into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
9. Remove the cake from the oven and sprinkle the crumb over the pears.
10. Bake for a further 20 minutes or until the crumb is golden and the cake is firm to the touch.
11. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Cooking Times

40 minutes

Servings

Serves 8