Autumn is harvest time for pears and apples in the northern hemisphere. The first pear dessert recipe that comes to mind is pear poached in wine, but pears can be used instead of apples in a variety of dessert recipes including crisps, pies, tarts and cakes.
The most common types of pears found in US supermarkets are Bosc, Asian, D’Anjou, Comice and the very popular Bartlett pear. According the USDA, of the 1,836 million pounds of pears to be harvested in 2009, 896 million pounds will be Bartlett. Compare this to the predicted 10,113 million pounds of apples to be harvested in 2009 and its no wonder that more desserts feature the favourite fruit of Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman.
Take a break from apples and choose a selection of light yellow and firm Bartlett pears for a never-fail vegan dessert with this vegan pear cake recipe.
Vegan Pear Cake Recipe
Makes 12 generous servings
Ingredients
- 2-3 cups water
- 3/4 cup canola or sunflower oil
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 3-1/2 cups sifted unbleached white flour
- 1 cup vegan sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 6 medium-sized pears, chopped and cored
- 1 1/2 cups chopped peanuts (optional, but delicious)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F, place one of the racks on the middle rung in the oven.
- Chop pears into bite-sized pieces, set aside
- Combine wet ingredients in a large bowl; 2 cups of water, oil, vinegar, vanilla
- In a separate bowl, sift flour, sugar, salt and baking soda.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix by hand only until combined, lumps are OK.
- Coat baking dish with vegetable spray.
- Mix in chopped pears and peanuts, only until coated, adding an additional cup of water if needed to get the batter to coat the pears.
- Pour batter into a 9x13inch glass baking dish and place cake on oven rack in the centre of the oven.
- Bake about 40 minutes, or until top is golden brown. To check doneness, take the cake out of the oven, insert a wooden toothpick into the centre of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is finished. If the toothpick comes out with batter clinging to it, the cake needs more time in the oven.
- Let cake cool for 10 minutes before slicing into it and serving.
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