Pear Spelt Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

Alright…. So I guess I’ll just start writing.
Its been a long time since I wrote anything that wasn’t for a grade, or on some specific researched subject. So here goes nothing.

I’ve never really had a blog before, besides my travel blog from my trip to Spain which was mostly just photos and information I paraphrased from school lectures and wikipedia. I didn’t really keep up with that so well, but maybe because I was in Europe so sitting in front of a computer for several hours didn’t seem so appealing when I could be wandering around in the Barrio Gótico. Anyway… this is going to take some getting used to. Pardon me if my writing is a bit shabby, hopefully  it will get better with time, but really I know nothing about grammar or proper punctuation so don’t get your hopes up. My photos as well are going to need some work. Photographing food is not as easy as it seems. I did however just get a shmancy new lens just for this purpose. Thanks Dad!

So, the idea is to write about what I love, food, and share my recipes and love for all things tasty with my friends and whoever else is paying attention. I can thank my good friend and room mate Missy Ward for the good idea, she’s always full of those. Thanks Miss, I love you.

I can’t really think of a better time to start a cooking blog than fall, which is without a doubt, my favorite season for cooking. I’ve always thought it really magical that all the heartiest fruits and vegetables appear just when we need them, before the long, cold, wet, long, dark, cold, LONG winter. Apples, and Yams in particular are some of my favorite foods.
Today, I believe, is the beginning of the aforementioned long, hard, cold, winter. Yesterday, I keep hearing, was the last of the sunny days for some time.
But Winter is not all that bad, I hate to sound so dramatic with my description of it, its actually also a great time to cook… and cuddle.
Now that the sun has gone away, its time to crank up the heat, turn on the oven, and bake comfort foods until it comes back.

A couple of weeks ago my good friend Lekadia came to visit and left me with as many Bartlett pears as I could carry in my arms and jacket pockets. It took me a little while to figure out what I would do with these pears but my ideas finally culminated in the cake that I am going to share with you today. I have since acquired even more pears and 13 pounds of apples, but that is a story for another day.

This cake is incredibly moist and rich due to the addition of a substantial amount of unsweetened pear puree to a fairly basic yellow cake. You can cook the pears before pureeing anyway you prefer but I recommend baking them. Baking the pears gives them a rich caramelized flavor that adds that much more yum to the cake. This method also fills your house with a supremely comforting sweet aroma that actually smells a lot like cake even though it is just pears baking.

I used an Immersion blender for making the puree, a kitchen tool I highly recommend. I use mine for soups, hummus, and all kinds of other pureeing projects. These pears are so soft though that you could probably just use a potato masher or something like that to puree them, this may result in a chunkier puree but that is perfectly fine, in fact it may be better. I used about 6 or 7 pears and ended up with some extra puree which is great to put in oatmeal or just eat by the spoonful.

 

This cake, and all baked goods that I will probably ever bake, is made using spelt flour. For whatever reason, my tummy cannot deal with wheat, but spelt flour, as far as I have found works just as well as wheat flour in most baked goods. When we get into yeasted breads we run into some problems but not unsolvable ones, again, a story for another day.

 

The recipe actually makes two cakes, one 9 inch and one 8 inch, if you just want one cake, just reduce the recipe a bit.

 

Pear Spelt Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream frosting
For Cake:
4 cups white spelt flour
1 tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 sticks (16 tbsp) butter
3 cups pear puree (about 6 large pears)
2 eggs
4 egg yolks

For Frosting:
1 cup semi-sweet dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 400° F
Peel pears. Slice in half and remove stems and seeds. Lay the pears flat side down on a baking sheet. Bake until pears are very tender, juices will start to bubble and burn (about an hour). Remove the pears from the oven and allow them to cool a bit, then transfer them to a medium mixing bowl and puree. Set them aside.

Adjust oven temperature to 350°
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl and set aside.
Combine Butter, Sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl, preferably using an electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed and fluffy. Add eggs and egg yolks and beat well to combine. Beat in pear puree. Gradually beat in flour mixture. The batter should be fairly smooth and a creamy beige color.

 

 

Spread the batter into buttered cake pans. Fill them about 3/4 full. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 40 min for the smaller cake, and 50 for the larger one). Allow to cool completely before frosting.

 

While the cakes bake, prepare the frosting.

 

 

Put sour cream into a medium bowl and stir until smooth. Add Almond extract and stir to combine.
Melt the chocolate chips in the butter using a double boiler (if you don’t have one just use two pots, one larger with a few inches of water and one smaller that fits into it just immersed in the water). Remove from heat.
Add chocolate to sour cream mixture and stir to combine.
Gradually add confectioners sugar until frosting is desired consistency, you may need a bit more or less than I have recommended.
Store in the refrigerator until you are ready to frost the cakes.

 

p.s. Rhino was only allowed to lick the mixing beaters after I was done using them. Rest assured those who ate it, there was no dog spit in the cake.