by Texas Homesteader ~
A cinnamon spice fresh pear cake captures the Taste of Fall with its moist texture, chunky pears and flavorful cinnamon. I’ve reduced the fat by replacing the oil with healthy applesauce. What a delicious way to use this season’s pears!
Pears Are A Favored Fall Fruit
Pears are one of my favorite fresh fruits. Although I don’t have a producing pear tree yet, when it’s pear season I often have friends that offer for me to pick some of their fresh pears.
There are many ways I can preserve them for later, but I use them fresh for snacking or cooking. This pear cake is a favorite – all moist & cinnamonny. A true taste of fall!
How To Preserve Fresh Pears
I’ve been allowed to harvest from several friend’s trees around town so I’ve been making and canning lots of pear products:
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Pear Sauce (like applesauce but with pears)
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Pears Canned In Vanilla Syrup
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Sweet-n-Savory Pear Relish
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Fresh Pear Preserves
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We’ll enjoy them all winter long. And some jars of those home-canned goodness could also end up in some of our Homemade Christmas Baskets this year.
Sampling My First Chunky Pear Cake
But a friend mentioned she had several pears that were given to her and she was going to make a pear cake with them. I’d never even heard of pear cake, and I wasn’t sure I was even tempted by the thought.
But a couple of days later I met up with her and she mentioned that she’d made the pear cake. Then she asked if we wanted to try it.
Hummm… Pear cake?? Sure, I guess…
WOW – it was amazing! All cinnamon & spice fall-tasting deliciousness with soft chunks of pear. And RancherMan went crazy over it too.
So of course I wanted to make my own pear cake for him. Thankfully my friend shared her recipe with me (thanks Sue!)
Replacing Oil With Healthy Applesauce
Now I amended her handwritten recipe since it didn’t indicate what size pan to bake it in. (although she did tell me that a tube pan would be appropriate.)
Plus since it was plenty moist with all that fruit included I substituted all of the oil in her recipe with Homemade Applesauce.
I also reduced the amount of nuts and added a bit of vanilla.
So I’ll share the recipe as I amended it. RancherMan says it’s delicious and it’s a KEEPER!
Pear Cake Ingredients
This moist & delicious pear cake recipe has simple, wholesome ingredients:
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4 cup chopped pears
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2 eggs
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2 cups of sugar
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1/2 cup Homemade Applesauce
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2 Tablespoons cinnamon
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2 cups of all-purpose flour
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2 teaspoons of baking soda
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1 tsp vanilla
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1 tsp of salt
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1 cup of chopped nuts
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I simply added the ingredients in order, stirring with my spatula after each addition. That’s all there is to it y’all!
Do I Need To Peel Pears For Pear Cake?
Wondering if you need to peel your pears to make this delicious pear cake? Well, yes and no.
My friend told me I didn’t even need to peel the pears so I didn’t. And it was delicious!
But I suppose if your pear skins are thick or russeted you might want to peel them to reduce that resulting texture in your cake.
Baking A Chunky Pear Cake
To bake my pear cake I greased & floured a 10″ tube pan and poured in the batter. I baked the cake in a 350 degree F. oven for 1 hour.
I allowed the cake to cool for about 15 minutes in the pan before inverting the tube pan onto a baker’s rack to release the cake and allow it to completely cool.
Then I sprinkled a little powdered sugar on top just to make it prettiful and served up a warm slice to RancherMan. His verdict? DELICIOUS!
Can You Freeze Pear Cake?
Yes you can easily freeze this pear cake. Just wrap tightly (make sure to add a label) and toss it in the freezer. It should stay delicious for 6 months or so in the freezer.
Since these cakes freeze beautifully I often make one for the freezer too. That way I’ll have a homemade cake ready for unexpected company.
What a delicious way to use up those fresh pears of the season!
Did you make this Pear Cake? Please rate the recipe in your comment below!
Fresh Pear Cake
Do you find yourself with a bundle of those fresh delicious pears? Make pear cake, it's surprisingly moist & delicious! And I replace all the oil with healthy applesauce. #TexasHomesteader
Ingredients
- 4 Cups Chopped Fresh Pears (peeled if the skin is tough)
- 2 Eggs, Beaten
- 2 Cups Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Applesauce
- 2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 Cup Chopped Nuts
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
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Gently fold ingredients in order given, stirring after each addition with a large spoon or spatula (do not beat with mixer). Batter will be thick.
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Pour into a well greased and floured 10" tube pan and bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
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Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then invert tube pan onto a plate to release cake, then allow to cool completely. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top for garnish if desired.
~TxH~
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I am glad to see this recipe , I used my grandmother’s fresh apple cake recipe and just used pears. It turned out really great too. I will try this one since I have a pear tree and I wish someone had all of the pears since we don’t eat them. We both are diabetic and my favorite was pear honey on pear preserves with lemon slices in them.
It seems many times a tree in someone’s yard provides way too much fruit than they can or want to eat. But oftentimes there are people nearby who would be happy to pick them – someone down the street or at church or book club, etc? Just yesterday RancherMan & I picked a basketful of pears from such a tree and we’re thrilled! I’ve planted a pear tree but it’s not yet mature enough to produce. Until then I’m happy to help clean up other’s pear trees. haha. I enjoy making this pear cake when I have pears, and RancherMan loves for me to make pear preserves with them. I also like to can pears in light syrup for sweet desserts throughout the year. Give this pear cake a try – it’s delicious! ~TxH~
I’m very excited to try this pear cake! My neighbor allowed my kids and me to come over and pick pears off her tree. We came home with over 20 pounds and she says she has more we can come get. I’ve new to preserving but I’ve tried my hand at pear jam and pear butter so far. I will definitely be trying your pear cake and preserves recipes. I’m fairly new to your blog but I’ve been enjoying reading about a fellow Texan’s adventures in homesteading!
We love this pear cake Lisa. The kids will love it too. Plus it’s a great idea for a little ‘thank you’ gift to the person sharing her pears. Plus it freezes well so you can take advantage of baking with the fresh pears now, freeze the cake and have a sweet little sumpin’ available when unexpected company stops by. Let me know how ya like it! ~TxH~
Should the pears be hard or soft? I will be making this soon.
Ya know Onalee, I typically make this with pears that are still firm but not hard. I’d think harder pears could be used too, provided they were cut into smaller chunks. But if the pears were extra soft I’d think they’d not stay in chunks as the cake cooks. This cake’s a surprisingly delicious treat and a delightful way to use this season’s fresh pears! ~TxH~
I would love to try this cake!
I’ve never had pears in cake-sounds great!
Thanks
Michelle
Now that’s a lovely pear cake recipe. What delicious photos!
Wishing you a beautiful day…
Brenda
Can you please give an approximation of how many pears would make 4 cups? Thank you in advance for your reply.
Hummm… I made this cake with tiny eensy pears Tammy, and it took probably about 12 of them to make 4 cups. The other pears shared with me by a sweet friend were much larger and it would only take about 5-6 of them I’d think. I guess it all depends upon how big your pears are. Give this recipe a try and here’s a secret – DANG this cake is even better on day 2! ~TxH~
This looks so good. Bookmarking to make later.
This sound delicious! The next time my kids leave behind some squishy pears I will have to make this one.
Looks ‘Oh, Sooooo Good’. Bet it’s nice and moist as well.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
If you use the ‘Pan Release’ mixture to grease your pans, no need to flour and you won’t have the flour coating on your baked cakes. (saves a step when you don’t have to flour the pan). Just using a pastry brush and coat the pan well your cakes come out of the pan perfectly.
Recipe would also be great made into muffins as well. But a little crumb topping on top and bake; adjusting the time of course.
Yes Colleen, my friend & I were talking about that too, and that it would shorten the baking time (a good thing if it’s still on the warm side) but I never thought about a crumb topping. That sounds amazing! ~TxH~
It really is a moist cake Colleen with all that fruit. The substitution of the applesauce made it a little more cake-textured than my friend’s version but that worked for us. I substituted the applesauce to reduce calories plus I’ve got my own homemade applesauce on the shelves that I made so I could substitute for oil in baking. I also cut the measurement of nuts in half to just 1 cup to reduce both calories as well as cost of the recipe. Since there are just 2 of us here I don’t often bake cakes, but I’d forgotten about the ‘Pan release’ thing, thanks for the reminder. I was able to take my pastry brush & brush off any residual white the flour left behind. ~TxH~
That sounds really good. I don’t have access to home grown pears, but the stores have plenty. My good friend makes a fresh pear pie that is to die for. I don’t know the recipe, but it has a creamy (like cheese cake) filling with all the pear slices. I’ve got to ask her to make me another one soon. – Margy