Nothing is more satisfying than freshly baked goods coming straight out of the oven. I love how the smells can permeate throughout every nook and cranny of the house and I love the warmth it seems to provide. This is the therapy I seek when I’ve had a stressful day at work. To be able to throw that all away and be placed into a trance as I mix and fold and knowing that I will have something delicious at the end of it.
However, it was only recently that I took a bit of a break from baking due to this event; I am quite sick of cupcakes now. So when I returned to baking, all I wanted was to make something easy and simple. I picked up a random recipe card from the grocery store and it was for a rhubarb and hazelnut cake. I couldn’t find any rhubarb so I substituted them for pears as I had lying them around, hazelnuts were also substituted for almonds as they needed to be used up as well. So I had pears and almonds for this cake… I decided the addition of cinnamon would go well with these two things. Another addition I made to the cake was by adding brown sugar on the top to get some caramelisation on the cake – I think next time I’ll add more sugar and combine it with some honey.
I found the cake to be a tad bit on the dry side but it was still good nonetheless. It was served with store-bought custard *gasp* I know… But hey! I was lazy… I found it did help with the dryness though.
RecipeAdapted from here
Makes one 22cm (9 inch) cake
125g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup milk
Brown sugar
100g roasted almonds, roughly chopped
2 pears, cut roughly into 2cm cubes
- Preheat oven to 160C (320F). Grease and line a round cake tin with baking paper.
- Beat butter, caster sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
- Gently fold in flour, milk and half the almonds.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan.
- Scatter clumps of brown sugar over the entire surface of the cake batter and sprinkle with remaining almonds.
- Push chunks of pears throughout the batter and gently press all the topping into the batter.
- Bake for 1 hour or until cake is cooked when tested with a skewer.
- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before allowing it to cool on a wire rack.
- Serve warm or at room temperature with custard.
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I know what you mean when you go too hard too quickly on something – like your 200 cupcakes! But glad you’ve stepped boldly back into the baking arena to produce this cake. Great substitutions. Pear and almonds are a delicious combination. Sometimes the most simple things, are the best.
This cake sounds delicious! I used to hate cinnamon, but now I’m starting to really like it
Sounds like you’re a recipe doctor like me 😛 I saw your recipe and thought “ooh this would be good with walnuts”
Looks great. Were you mixing and folding by hand or have you got your Kitchen Aid yet?
YUM! Just in time for my breakfast 😀 It’s got fruit AND nuts, so it’s a good healthy start to the day right? Hope you are now feeling less stressed, baking calms me down too 🙂
Omfg, how delicious does this sound. I’m hungry now!
Love the combinations of flavours. There is nothing better than the smell of baking wafting through the house
Hey Phuoc – am surprised – it actually looks quite moist! Anyway, am glad you’ve recovered from the cupcake event – glad to see you back baking action.
I love that you substituted both of the key ingredients for your own loaf of deliciousness. Sounds super tasty and perfect for morning tea.
mmm cinnamon makes me so happy
It must be the time everyone is thinking of morning tea – there are so many lovely afternoon tea type cakes being blogged about at the moment. I think it’s my favourite meal 🙂 This one looks lovely (even if it was a tiny bit dry).
This is the kind of cake that I love, Phuoc 😀
I absolutely love the smell of good food cooking wafting throughout the house, even better when it’s baked goods. Sometimes we do need to take shortcuts, like the jarred pasta sauce I used to make lunch to which the boy frowned upon =D
Julia: Good to hear that someone else understands. I can imagine you probably would have been over the macarons, especially after all your efforts last year however they were well worth it!
Kristy: Yeah I love recipes that I can adjust freely to suit what’s in the kitchen.
Richard: Hehe… Haven’t received it yet. But I will SOON!
Sharon: Healthy indeed. I think this was why my parents demolished it so quickly 😀
Laura, Sara, Helen & Anh: Thanks!
Trissa: Thanks! Expect more to come, especially with the appearance of my new baby 😀
Chocolatesuze: Cinnamon makes everything so much better…
Sarah: Afternoon teas makes working bearable 😛
Angie: I can’t wait to have my own house because I’ll have it constantly filled with the aromas of baked goods 🙂