Pears are a sweet and varied fruit perfect for fall baking. If you need a break from fall apple recipes, try some of these favorite pear recipes, including my popular pear cake with cardamom glaze!
Pears can be an overlooked and forgotten fruit. I think they get lost in the shuffle between summer berry season and fall apple season, but these late summer to early fall fruits are wonderful and complex. Like apples, there are different varieties that range in flavor profiles. This post celebrates pears in all their glory, with a range of recipes. If this is a fruit you’ve overlooked in the past, now’s the time to stop and enjoy one of my favorite fruits for baking.
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How To Choose Pears for Baking
For most recipes, you are going to want firm pears that hold up well. Most varieties will do, if you avoid anything that is too soft. For example to get the perfect ratio of fruit to cake in the Pear Cake recipe, you’ll want to choose thin, tall pears. Here are a few options:
- Bosc
- Concorde
- Starkrimson
- Bartlett
Each has a great shape and flavor for the cake, and most would stand up well when poached!
12 Perfect Pear Desserts
A beautiful tart is a sophisticated dish to add to any table. The pears, almond cream and toasted almonds in this recipe are perfect compliments to one another visually and in flavor. I love serving this dish for the holidays because it is elegant, but simple to make. The tart dough is from SWEET by Helen Goh and Yotam Ottolenghi.
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This poached pear ginger cake is spicy with a kick of freshly grated ginger and tons of warm spice from cloves and cinnamon. It’s by no means an overly sweet cake, which is how I like them. The molasses gives it color and that edge of bitter that I love.
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This Pear Raspberry Upside-Down Cake is the best of summer and the celebration of what is to come in fall. I started by caramelizing the pears, as I would for a tarte tatin. Slow and steady is the trick to getting the right flavor and texture. The combination of the caramel pears, the bright raspberries and the rich cake is pretty close to perfection.
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This pear pie with caramel is a perfect fall or winter treat. It looks stunning, but you'll be surprised just how easy it is to put together. Simply make a few components, then assemble and bake.
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For this spin on my granny's dessert I combined Swedish Cream with a poached pear puree and then topped it with a layer of poached pear jelly and put it on a base of almond joconde sponge cake. It takes a bit of time but is really quite easy to make!
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Aran Goyoaga's new book Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple includes this amazing recipe for meringue cake with roasted apples. I made it as written, except I did mine with pears. Aran has graciously allowed me to share her recipe with you.
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This is sweet spin on the Midwestern staple, hot dish! The pears add their wonderful and distinct flavor, and cranberries give a tart kick. The combination is a fun twist on fall crisps.
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As my beautiful pears ripened, the texture was as soft as an overly ripe banana, so I got the idea of making my banana bread recipe with chunks of the ripe pears. I added a bit of homemade granola, instead of the toasted coconut I usually put in banana bread.
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You can choose your favorite variety of apple to make this cake satisfy your mood—crisp, sweet, tangy, juicy, etc. The pears add a wonderful sweetness and additional layer of fruit flavor.
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The flavors of this tarte tatin are a match made in heaven. The tartness of the pomegranate is a perfect match for the sweet caramel and the mellow flavor of the seckel pears.
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This rustic and stunning pear galette recipe comes from one of my favorite bakers, Michelle Gayer. It's an easy-to make recipe and a wonderful way to learn about puff pastry.
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Ingredients
- 3/4 cup 165g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup 200g granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons molasses
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon finely chopped candied ginger
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups 210g all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 cup 120ml buttermilk, at room temperature
- 6 small ripe pears peeled and cored (leave stems on for drama)*
Cardamom Confectioners’ Sugar Icing:
- 1 cup 120g confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream plus more as needed
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Instructions
- For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F / 175 degrees C. Generously grease and flour a 10-inch / 25 cm tube pan.
- in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-high speed until creamy and smooth, about 1 minute.
- Turn the mixer speed to low; add the sugar, molasses, and vanilla to the butter; and mix until incorporated. Then turn the speed to medium-high and mix until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the ginger and mix until incorporated.
- Turn the speed to medium-low and add the eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined. Scrape the bowl after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt.
- Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing on low speed, just until combined. Add half of the buttermilk and mix to incorporate. Repeat with another one-third flour, the remaining liquid, and then finish with the final one-third flour, scraping the bowl and paddle after each addition.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Gently tap the pan on the counter several times to release excess air bubbles. Press the pears, upright, halfway into the batter, spacing them evenly around the pan. Set the pan on a baking sheet.
- Bake until the cake is golden and a tester comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Check the cake at about 20 minutes to make sure the pears aren’t slumping over. If they are, use the stem to right them in the batter and continue baking. Transfer the cake to a wire rack and let cool completely in the pan.
- Run a knife around the edge of the cake, the center tube, and the bottom of the pan and then carefully transfer, using a large spatula to lift it off the base, to a serving plate. Drizzle with the icing before serving.
- For the Icing: In a small bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar, cream, and 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom, then stir with a spoon to mix into a thick paste.
- Add additional cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, to achieve a consistency that can be drizzled over your cake. You should be able to draw a line through the icing with the back of a spoon. Use immediately.
Notes
*To get the perfect ratio of cake to fruit, you’ll want to choose thin, tall pears. I like Bosc, Concorde, Starkrimson, and Bartlett for their shapes and flavors in this cake.
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