This cardamom pear cake recipe comes from Andrew Schloss, the author of Almost from Scratch: 600 Recipes for the New Convenience Cuisine. Though this cookbook is not exclusively dairy-free, it offers many recipes and ideas for those who are interested in cooking with convenient ingredients.
Special Diet Notes: Cardamom Pear Cake
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, and vegetarian.
- 6 under-ripe pears, cored and cut in eighths
- 1 tablespoon ground cardamom
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs, large or extra-large
- 1 cup canola oil
- ½ cup orange juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan, preferably with a removable bottom.
- Toss the pear wedges, cardamom and one-third cup of the sugar in a mixing bowl until the pears are thickly coated with sugar and spice. Set aside while preparing the cake batter.
- To make the batter, beat the remaining sugar and eggs until thick and creamy. Beat in the oil, one-quarter cup at a time, followed by the orange juice, and the vanilla and almond extracts. Don't worry if the batter splits; it will become smooth once the dry ingredients are added.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together, and beat into the batter just until the batter is smooth and thick.
- Spread one-third of the batter across the bottom of the prepared pan. Layer with one-third of the pears, and repeat the layers two more times.
- Bake for 1 hour and 50 minutes, until a tester comes out barely moist.
- Cool in the pan on a rack.