Pears are fruits that reign in the fall. One of the popular varieties is the Xenia pear.
This pear, thanks to its sweet, juicy fruit, is perfect for cakes and salads. I like its combination especially with Brie cheese and rocket salad.
This time, however, it ended up in a cake and not just in any one, but in a torte cake. Both the custard cream and the fruit jelly were prepared on a pear juice and fruit pieces base. I also used pear juice for soaking the sponge cake base.
This pear cake is great for all kinds of birthdays, name days or other holidays that take place during the fall.
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Ingredients for pear cake.
Sponge cake:
- 8 eggs
- 120 g all-purpose flour
- 150 g potato flour
- 250 g icing sugar
- 1.5 teaspoon of baking powder
- a pinch of salt
Fruit:
- 1.2 kg pear (I used Xenia)
- 900 ml water
Custard cream:
- 350 g unsalted butter
- 700 ml pear juice
- 150 g crystal sugar
- 40 g vanilla or plain pudding powder
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons potato flour
Pear layer:
- 3 lemon jellies in a powder (75 g each)
- 2 tablespoons of gelatine
- 100 ml pear juice
- cooked pears (from cooking the pears part)
Additionally: mini biscuits
How to make pear cake with cream.
Sponge cake: put egg whites into a bowl, add a pinch of salt, then whisk until stiff peaks are formed. At that point, add the icing sugar in small batches, while whisking constantly.
Combine all-purpose flour with potato flour and baking powder. Sift through a strainer. Stir the egg yolks with a fork.
Pour in the egg yolks into whipped egg whites – not all at once but with a medium stream, while gently stirring the whole thing. Finally, add the flour, quickly and in small batches.
Line the bottom of a round-shaped baking tin with greaseproof paper and pour in the cake batter. Put the cake in an oven preheated to 180 degrees Celsius. Bake for 55 minutes to an hour. Let the finished cake cool down then cut it horizontally 3 times so that 4 equal sponge cake layers are formed.
Cooking the pears: peel the pears, hollow out the center of each one and cut them in halves. Put the pears in a pot, add water and cook them until they are soft. When cooked, let the pears cool down and leave them in their own juice for that time.
Custard cream: pour 500 ml of pear juice into a pot, add crystal sugar to it and bring it all to boil. Mix 200 ml of juice with pudding powder, 3 egg yolks and potato flour in a cup. When the juice on the heat begins to boil, pour in the pudding from the cup. Stir all the time, simmering over a low heat for a minute from the moment it starts boiling. Remove the cooked custard from the heat, cover the top with cling film and leave it to cool down.
Place the softened butter in a bowl and rub to a fluffy consistency, preferably with a mixer. At that point, add cold custard to it in small batches, while rubbing constantly. Divide the finished cream into three equal parts.
Pear layer: cut the cooked pears into very small cubes or grate them on a large-mesh grater. Put them into a pot, add pear juice and bring it all to a boil. Next, remove it from the heat, add gelatine and jelly. Mix very thoroughly and let it cool down.
Assembling the cake: prepare the baking tin in which the cake was baked. Put the first layer of the sponge cake on its bottom, soak it a little with pear juice, then place the first part of the thickening pears with the jelly (the fruit part). Cover it with the second sponge cake payer, by gently pressing it down with your fingers.
Again, soak the sponge cake with a little pear juice, put 1/3 of the custard cream on it, spread it thoroughly then cover it with the third sponge cake layer. Drizzle the sponge cake with pear juice again, put the second part of the thickening pear jelly on it. Cover it with the last sponge cake layer, drizzle it with pear juice and spread 1/3 of the custard cream. Place mini biscuits next to one another on top of the cream. Decorate the cake on top with the remaining custard cream. Place the cake into the fridge for a few hours so the cream can thicken well enough.
Good to know when making pear cake with cream.
I used a round-shaped baking tin with a diameter of 24 cm. The sponge cake is very tall, so it is worth checking its center with a stick to see if it’s completely baked after an hour of baking. If not, you need to keep the sponge cake in the oven for a little longer. You can, of course, bake a sponge cake in a rectangular baking tin as well. Then, depending on the size of the tin, it can be kept in the oven for less or more time.
I covered only the bottom of the baking tin with baking paper. I left the sides uncovered. Thanks to this, the cake batter could “climb” the sides of the tin.
When making the sponge cake, the flour should be added very quickly – not all at once, but in smaller batches. However, you should not mix it for too long with the whipped egg whites, because by doing so the air from the egg whites will be lost and the cake will not rise.
It is best to use a wide, flat pot for cooking the pears. The pears will be completely covered with water in such a pot.
I used 100 ml of pear juice to drizzle the cake. This is the juice which I had left after cooking the pears.
All the ingredients used for the sponge cake preparation should be at room temperature. The butter used for the custard cream should also have that temperature.
Do you like cakes with fruit? If so, try our recipe for Yoghurt cake with strawberries.
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