I wonder whether the reason it’s taken me nearly two years to dedicate a column to pears is not because they’ve slipped my mind, but because I like them too much. I’ve toyed with the idea of a week of pear bakes before, but each time I’ve filled the fruit bowl with them – whether they’re soft, freckled conference pears or crunchy, red-flushed varieties – I’ve not had the heart to do anything other than carefully nurse them to ripeness, and eat them just as they are.
If you’re overrun with an autumnal glut of pears, though, there are worse things you can do than folding chunks of the fruit into a sticky ale and golden syrup cake, or poaching them to perfection in sugar and saffron, before baking into a brownie tart. Here are a couple of recipes that I hope will do pears justice.
Saffron-poached pear brownie tart
This rich, pear brownie tart has a few different elements and needs a little planning, but it’s worth the effort. The separate components are easy enough – just chocolate pastry crust, pears poached in saffron syrup, a simple brownie batter and thick saffron cream – but you just need to be patient in bringing them all together.
Saffron dyes the pear chunks here a golden yellow and infuses them with a beautifully earthy flavour.
Serves 8
For the pastry
150g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp caster sugar
75g butter, firm, but not fridge-cold
1 large egg
For the poached pears
200g caster sugar
200ml water
A couple of good pinches of saffron
3 ripe pears, peeled, cored and quartered
For the brownie filling
100g butter, softened
125g soft light brown sugar
1 large egg
1½ tsp vanilla extract
110g plain flour
4 tbsp cocoa powder
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
50g dark chocolate, finely chopped
To serve
300ml double cream
1 Stir together the flour, cocoa powder and sugar in a large bowl. Cube the butter and rub it in between your fingertips until there are no chunks left. If you have a food processor, you can blitz the mixture in this. Lightly whisk the egg, then add it to the bowl, cutting the liquid into the sandy butter and flour to get a rubbly, clumpy dough. Press the pieces together into a flattish round, then wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge to firm up for around 15-20 minutes, until it has become slightly less sticky.
2 While the pastry chills, heat the sugar, water and saffron in a small pan. Simmer for 5 minutes to allow the saffron flavour to infuse. Add the pears. Once the syrup has come back to the boil, reduce the heat and poach for 10 minutes. Remove the cooked pears with a slotted spoon and leave to cool. Don’t pour away the poaching syrup just yet, as you’ll need some for the brownie filling.
3 Roll the pastry out on a well-floured work surface until its large enough to line a 20cm round springform cake tin. Carefully lift the pastry over the rolling pin and drape it into the tin. Trim any excess to give sides that are roughly 3cm high. Put it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.
4 Pierce the chilled pastry base all over with a fork, then line with baking parchment and fill with baking weights (dried pulses or rice also do the trick). Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the parchment parcel and weights. Cook for a further 5 minutes uncovered.
5 While the pastry cooks, prepare the brownie filling. Beat the butter with the brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 100ml of the poaching syrup, as well as the egg and vanilla extract. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, then stir in the chopped dark chocolate.
6 Spoon the brownie mix into the pastry shell, then arrange the pear pieces on top. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until risen and springy to the touch. Whisk the double cream with 4 tbsp of the poaching syrup, until it’s thick and spoonable. Serve the warm pear chocolate tart with dollops of saffron cream.
Sticky pear and ale loaf cake
A few of the pear chunks in this sticky ale cake will sink to the bottom during baking, but that’s as it’s supposed to be. To get little pieces of fruit suspended evenly throughout the sponge, you’d need a far thicker batter – and if you had that, you’d lose the dense, damp texture that makes this cake so great.
Serves 8
75g unsalted butter
125ml brown ale
150g golden syrup
75g soft dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
250g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp salt
3 ripe pears
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4, then line a 2lb/900g loaf tin with baking parchment.
2 Melt the butter over a low heat, then whisk together with the brown ale, golden syrup and sugar. One at a time, beat in the eggs.
3 In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, ground ginger and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and whisk thoroughly until you’re left with a smooth, very liquid batter. It’ll be far wetter than most cake mixes, but this is what will give the loaf its close, sticky texture and soft crust.
4 Peel and core the pears, then chop into 5mm dice. Stir the chopped pear into the batter then pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 45-55 minutes, until a small knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool completely before serving.
