5 from 3 reviews

Chai-Spiced Gluten-Free Pear Cake

By Alanna Taylor-Tobin on Oct 14, 2013 (updated Oct 21, 2023) / 31 Comments Jump to Recipe

This gluten-free pear cake combines fresh pears with masala chai spices (cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger) all wrapped up in a pillowy cake. The cake base uses a blend of gluten-free flours (sweet rice, oat, and millet) for a tender cake studded with ripe pear chunks. Serve slices with whipped crème fraîche for a cozy and satisfying dessert.

a slice of gluten-free pear cake sits on an old dark baking sheet with two forks and a jar of creme fraiche

Note from Alanna: I first shared this gluten-free pear cake in 2014 after some dear friends gifted us a bunch of gorgeous home-grown pears. I still remember bringing the final version to a music rehearsal where the bassist, who was not gluten-free, expressed his amazement that the cake was. I loved this recipe so much that I included a variation of it, made with nectarines, in my cookbook Alternative Baker. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have over the years!

I have to agree with Eddie Izzard: pears are sneaky little buggers that seem to say "No, don't ripen yet...wait til he goes out of the room...ripen now now now!" Most of the time I want to tell them to F off, too.

But I couldn't bring myself to use foul language on the beautiful pears left to us by our friends who cat-sat for us while we took a road trip to Portland. You know those fancy pears that people send to fancy people for the holidays? These pears looked like those.

So rather than telling the pears to shove it as they slowly ripened, I gave them each a little "squeezy squeezy" throughout the day until they had the slightest hint of give. Pears ripen from the inside out, so if you wait for them to give the signals of other (non-sneaky, non-buggery) fruit, you'll open them up to find them brown and rotty on the inside (and laughing at you).

pears are being prepared on a wood board — Choose pears that are firm-ripe for this cake, preferably Bartlett pears or D'Anjou. Buy them at least a few days ahead of when you plan to make the cake so they have time to ripen. Alternatively, you can make this cake using poached pears.

Baking with Pears

Pears can be a bit high-maintenance for baking. They need to be perfectly ripe, somewhere between rock hard and mushy, so be sure to purchase them a few days to a week before you want to bake this cake.

Pears are low in acid, with a mild flavor that can taste bland when baked. For this reason, they pair (haha) nicely with more assertive flavors (whole grains, chai spices) and acidity (lemon juice), all of which we have here.

This gluten-free pear cake has a beautiful melt-in-your mouth texture bursting with chai spices and studded with fat chunks of tender pears. No one will ever guess that the cake is gluten-free – it has the rich taste and floofy texture of a cake made with whole wheat and all-purpose flours. The sugary top gives it a classic coffeecake-like crust on top that plays off the soft fruit and tender crumb.

How to Make Gluten-Free Pear Cake

This recipe makes a 10-inch single-layer cake, serving 8-10. It takes a little over an hour, start to finish, plus an hour or two to cool after baking.

a bowl of sugar has cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger — Make the chai spiced sugar by combining the sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom together.

chai spiced sugar has been mixed in a bowl on a dark blue speckled surface — Stir until combined.

the batter has been mixed in a stand mixer and is shown on the paddle looking buttery and inviting — Make the batter by combining most of the chai sugar with the butter. Beat until fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in half of the sifted dry ingredients, then add the crème fraîche and vanilla, and add the remaining dry ingredients. The batter will be floofy and beautiful!

pear chunks have been added to the bowl of batter — Stir in the pear chunks.

pear cake batter has been scraped into a skillet — Scrape the batter into a buttered 10-inch ovenproof skillet or cake pan.

pear cake batter has been spread in the skillet — Spread it smooth. This small offset spatula is one of the most-used tools in my kitchen!

Pear wedges have been arranged on top of the cake batter in a cast iron skillet — Place pear slices atop the batter with the wide ends toward the outer edge. Dot with butter and sprinkle with the rest of the chai sugar.

The cake has been baked and cut into wedges in the skillet — Bake the cake at 350ºF until a toothpick comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

a slice of gluten-free pear cake is being lifted out of the skillet — Cut the cake into slices and serve!

Serve this gluten-free pear cake at room temperature with a dollop of crème fraîche whipped cream, or serve it warm topped with a scoop of dreamy vanilla ice cream. I can guarantee that nobody, not even Eddie Izzard, would ever tell it to f**k off.

a piece cake topped with creme fraiche has a bite taken out — Serve slices of cake with whipped creme fraiche if you like.

*Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this gluten-free pear cake recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.*

5 from 3 reviews