- Yield: 9
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
Bourbon Pear Crumb Cake
I had - like often on a Sunday afternoon - a hankering for a slice of cake or pie. So I was looking at what I had and found some nice an ripe Anjou Pears. Previously that day, I came across a blog post about a pear and bourbon tarte which sounded great but a little too much work for my Sunday cravings. So I decided to do something simpler. The result is a delicious pear crumb cake. The pears sit on top of a moist vanilla cake with bourbon and are topped by an avalanche of classic German crumbs.
The recipe makes one 8x8 baking dish that you can cut into 9 delicious slices.
Ingredients
- For the Vanilla Cake
- All Purpose Flour - 2/3 cup
- Corn Starch - 1/3 cup
- Baking Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
- Salt - 1/2 tbsp
- Eggs - 1 whole, large
- Granulated Sugar - 1/2 cup
- Bourbon - 1 tbsp
- Sour Cream - 1/4 cup
- Vanilla Bean - 1, seeds removed
- Butter - 4 tbsp
- For the Crumbs
- Butter - 4 tbsp
- All Purpose Flour - 2/3 cup
- Granulated - 1/3 cup
- Ground Cinnamon - 1/4 tsp
- Pears - 2 - 3, ripe
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Spray a 8x8 inch baking pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper
- For the sponge cake, melt the butter and let cool down.
- In a bowl, mix flour, corn starch, baking powder, and salt.
- Beat egg and sugar until pale and fluffy. You can do this by hand with a big whisk or in a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment.
- Drizzle in the butter and whisk until incorporated.
- Stir in bourbon, vanilla seeds, and sour cream.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just to incorporate. If the batter is too thick, use some milk to thin it out.
- Put batter in the prepared baking pan and use an offset spatula to spread evenly.
- Peel and core the pears and cut into wedges (8 - 12 per pear). Neatly arrange on the sponge until it's mostly covered.
- For the crumb crust, add all ingredients into a bowl.
- Use your fingers to incorporate the butter and form large crumbs.
- When you're happy with the texture, sprinkle over the pears.
- Bake at 350° F for 40 - 45 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Let cool in the baking pan for 15 minutes, then lift it out using the parchment paper and let cool completely.
- Cut into squares and dust with powdered sugar if desired.
