Spiced pear cake with butterscotch sauce

 

 

Drizzled with sticky sweet butterscotch sauce, this spiced pear cake drips of decadence.

 

Ingredients

• 200g butter, softened
• 1 cup raw caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons mixed spice
• 1 cup almond meal
• 1/3 cup pecans, chopped
• 2 ripe beurre bosc pears
• 2 teaspoons raw caster sugar, extra

Butterscotch sauce

• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 50g butter
• 1 cup pure cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Step 1
   Preheat oven to 170°C/150°C fan-forced. Grease a 7cm-deep 20cm (base) cake pan. Line base and sides with baking paper. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition (mixture may curdle). Sift flour, baking powder and mixed spice over butter mixture. Add almond meal and pecans. Fold until combined.
2. Step 2
   Spoon mixture into prepared cake pan. Smooth top. Cut pears into quarters. Remove core and thinly slice each quarter, leaving stalk and top of pear intact. Arrange over cake, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle with extra sugar. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in centre of cake comes out clean (cover with foil if over-browning). Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Turn, top-side up, onto a wire rack.
3. Step 3
   Meanwhile, make Butterscotch sauce. Place sugar, butter, cream and vanilla in a pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer for 5 minutes or until thickened. Serve cake with sauce. (taste.com.au)