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 last week while we took a road trip to Portland. Karisa runs the intern program at Delphi, an estate with acres of educational farmland in the Santa Cruz Mountains. (She also happens to be the nicest person in the world). Delphi must be covered in orchards, based on the abundance of fruit that Karisa always seems to possess. Fall is no exception; Karisa left us 5 of the most beautiful pears I’ve ever seen. 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).
Yet pears are high-maintenance even for baking. They’re low in acid, with a mild flavor that can taste bland when baked. For this reason, they’re often used in conjunction with other, more assertive flavors – ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom, for instance.
I baked my pretty pears into a cake flavored with the dominant flavors of my favorite Masala chai (which is fun to make from scratch). I made the cake gluten-free by using a blend of sweet rice, oat, millet, and buckwheat flours based on this nectarine rosemary upside-down cake that my friend Molly and I came up with last month.
I usually bake smaller batches when I’m testing recipes so as not to waste ingredients on inedible experiments, but I thought I could nail my new recipe on the first try. So I baked up a large, ten-inch round cake in my skillet.
I somehow decided it was a good idea to photograph the mixer stirring the batter…for, like, five minutes. I would never do this with a wheat-based cake batter since I know how glutens react when you work them too much – they turn into bread. I thought that this wouldn’t be a problem with a gluten-free batter, but I was wrong. I did not nail the recipe. Cake #1 baked up into a squat sort of giant hockey puck that was just as tender as something you’d want to hit with a stick into a large net, and was shockingly bland, to boot.
Thankfully, I still had pears left, so I baked them into cake #2. This one had a more delicate texture and big flavor thanks to more spices and salt, as well as a squeeze of lemon juice added to the pears to give them a bit more oomph.
I was adding tapioca flour and xanthan gum to the cakes to make them
sturdier, but I was finding them lacking in the delicate sort of crumb
that every cake should have. So for cake #3, I left them out. This cake had a beautiful melt-in-your mouth texture bursting with chai spices and studded with fat chunks of tender pears. Once I tasted a piece warm from the oven, waiting to eat this cake until after I had photographed it was nothing short of torturous.
I start by making a spiced sugar, some of which gets set aside for sprinkling over the cake batter and pears; the rest gets creamed into softened butter until light and fluffy. The sugary top gives the cake a classic coffeecake-like crust on top that plays off the soft fruit and tender crumb.
Buckwheat flour adds an undertone of its robust flavor, and no one will ever guess that the cake is gluten-free. It has the taste and mouthfeel of a cake made with whole wheat and all-purpose flours. I leave the skin on the pears, which softens up enough to go unnoticed in the finished cake.
I like this cake at room temperature with a spot of crème fraîche and tea, but it can become dessert when served warm with a scoop of dreamy vanilla ice cream. I can guarantee that nobody, not even Eddie Izzard, would ever tell it to fuck off.
(Gluten-Free) Chai-Spiced Pear Skillet Cake
Print Recipe / Pin RecipeIngredients
The spiced sugar:
- 3/4 cup organic cane sugar (5 3/4 ounces)
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
The cake:
- 1 stick unsalted butter, plus 2 teaspoons for greasing the pan, at room temperature (8 tablespoons/4 ounces)
- spiced sugar from above (see instructions)
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup sweet white rice flour (4 ounces)
- 1/4 cup millet flour (1 1/4 ounces)
- 1/4 cup oat flour (1 ounce)
- 1/4 cup buckwheat flour (1 ounce)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/3 cup crème fraîche (or sour cream) (2 1/2 ounces)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 pounds ripe but firm pears (about 3 medium)
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
Make the cake:
- Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350ºButter a 10" oven-proof skillet with the 2 teaspoons of softened butter.
- In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon. Set aside 2 tablespoons to top the cake; add the rest to the butter. Cream together the butter and spiced sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice, about 3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the rice, millet, oat, and buckwheat flours, baking powder, and salt. Add half of this mixture to the butter, stir on low until just combined. Add the crème fraîche and vanilla, stir on low until just combined, then add the remaining flour mixture, stirring on low until just combined.
- Remove the bowl from the mixer, and give it a gentle stir with a rubber spatula, scraping the bottom and sides to make sure the batter is homogenous. It will be thick and spongy from the baking powder reacting with the acids in the crème fraîche.
- Cut the pears off of their cores. Cut some of the pear pieces into enough 1/2" cubes to equal 1 cup, and slice the rest into 1/2" thick (at the widest parwedges. Drizzle the lemon juice over the wedges; this keeps them from oxidizing, and gives them a little punch. Gently fold the pear chunks into the batter, then spread the batter evenly into the greased skillet.
- Fan out the pear slices over the top of the cake with the fatter part facing out. Press them into the batter a little bit; I like to place them at a diagonal so that some cake batter peaks through the fruit. Sprinkle the reserved 2 tablespoons of spiced sugar evenly over the top.
- Bake the cake until the top is golden and set, the sides are pulling away from the pan, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45-55 minutes. Since the cake is still cooking from residual heat, let it cool for at least an hour before cutting it into wedges and devouring it with your afternoon (or, ahem, breakfast) tea.
- Leftovers keep well at room temperature for a day or two; refrigerate the rest after that.
Notes
Nutrition
More Gluten-Free Cake Recipes:
- Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Pumpkin Bread
- Gluten-Free Apple Cake in a Skillet
- Gluten-Free Blueberry Coffeecake
- Dairy-Free Gluten-Free Carrot Cake
- Gluten-Free Red Velvet Cake {all-natural}
- Gluten-Free Chocolate Bundt Cake
- Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
- Gluten-Free Banana Cake with Chocolate Ganache
- Gluten-Free Upside-Down Cake with Poached Quince
- Gluten-Free Chocolate Zucchini Cake
- Gluten-Free Pound Cake with Lemon and Berries
- Gluten-Free Peach Cake
- Gluten-Free Plum Cake
- Gluten-Free Lemon Almond Cake
High on chai:
Pears in there:
- Pear Custard Tart in a GF Chocolate Crust
- Poached Pears & Goat Cheese Cheesecake
- GF Pear Crisp
- Baked Pancake with Pears and Cardamom
- Pear, Blue Cheese, and Hazelnut Tart
- Cranberry Pear Upside-Down Gingerbread
One year ago:
Maple-Glazed Bacon Apple Scones
Two years ago:
Roasted Quince and Apple Turnovers and
Quicker Whole Wheat Puff Pastry
Three years ago:
Roasted Summer Vegetable Caponata
Almond Plum Tart, Cardamom Ice Cream
Four years ago:
Sourdough Boule
Chocolate Granola
Such a gorgeous, gluten-free cake, and how I loved your musings on the fickle and often difficult pear! Thank you for sharing this!
Monet, you are an absolute angel – thank you for reading, and for the kind words.
SOOOO wish to make this brunch-worthy work of art……but…but…HUGE ALAS…..my hubster does NOT like pear in any form!…WHYY???…Could I possibly sub in an acceptable apple variant here without damaging the integrity (or taste-ecstacy component) of your exquisite recipe?!…Hoping for a solution to my dilemma!!!
Pesky boys and their picky eating habits! You could certainly give this a try with apples, but I'm not sure that they'll soften up as much as the pears. I would use a softer variety of apple (maybe pink ladies?) rather than firmer baking apples (like Granny Smith). You could also try using the GF chai-spiced batter here, but the apple topping from this upside-down cake: https://www.bojongourmet.com/2010/10/uber-apple-upside-down-cake.html
Please let me know how it goes!
Beautiful cake Alanna! I love the way the pears sink in and become ONE with the batter. I also love how you paired the pears with chai spices because they need the extra help in the flavor department. And you know what else I love? How you always explain your rationale for why you made the decisions you did. It really emphasizes how methodical cooks have to be.
Also, in my experience, pears are the ultimate breeders of fruit flies. UGH. But they're still worth it. :)
Aw, thank you, Linda! That means a lot to me! Fruit flies = ugh, indeed.
I absolutely love skillet cakes, with the crispier bottom. This looks so beautiful and a perfect way to use pears.
Indeed – thanks, Asha!
I had no idea that pears ripen from the inside in – I love that you just taught me that! Oh, and this looks absolutely amazing… chai flavored anything is a winner in my book.
Glad I could be of service! I completely agree, re: chai flavors.
This is so right up my alley!
Aw, yay!!!
Beautiful Cake Alanna : ) Pear + Chai = a winner. I agree that pears are tricky-ish. I found baking them, cooling, then leaving in the oven overnight to be a cool way to concentrate their flavor a bit, at least to throw into scones!
Thanks, Meredith. I'll definitely try your roasting method – that's brilliant. I see a lot of recipes that call for poaching the pears first, which always seems kind of over the top. Roasted pear scones sound amazing!
That is my favorite eddie izzard skit ever and I think of it every time I buy pears! This skillet cake looks delicious!
Yes, I do too!! Thanks for the sweet comment! :D
This looks delicious! Love to find a good gluten-free recipe as my boyfriend is a coeliac.
Thanks, Elizabeth! He sounds like a lucky guy to have such a caring GF. :)
Gorgeous.. Gluten free cake with chai spice flavors.. very clever :) I am glad to follow u ..
Aw! Thanks for the follow and kind words, Sowmya!
So good to see you left out the xanthan gum. I never find it necessary. Thanks for sharing such tasty recipes and lessons.
Thanks Kathy – there are few things I enjoy more. :) And I was glad to be able to leave out the xanthan gum here, too.
i love the idea of making a spiced sugar for this
Spiced sugar is rarely a bad thing, no? ;)
I made this for thanksgiving with my fuyu persimmons.. and added a little extra chai powder (had no cardamom…) and sliced candied ginger….big hit!
Yaaaayyyy!!! :)
You are so lucky to roam around Portland. I love pears so your article fascinated me. The way you have blended the taste with pears is mind-blowing. ideas are really good. Thank you bojonggourmet for sharing this.
This looks amazing and perfect for Thanksgiving. Do you think it would stand up with a gluten-free flour mix and vegan butter (Earth Balance)?
I bet both of those subs would work! Please let me know if you try it. :)
I made your cookbook version of this last night (which looks, at quick glance, pretty similar, except without the buckwheat flour), and it is so heavenly.
After popping it in the oven, I realized I had forgotten to add creme fraiche, which I had made specifically for the cake – but it ended up not mattering. It is amazing either way.
A little sweet for my taste, but I added a local whole milk plain yogurt to the top and then it’s basically a healthy breakfast, right? :)
Thank you for another great recipe! I think I’ll make it again for Thanksgiving.
I’m so glad the recipe worked out even without the creme fraiche and that you liked it! You could absolutely decrease the sugar to your taste next time, though I think the creme fraiche might offset the sweetness a little with its tanginess. I’m actually working on an apple skillet cake recipe at the moment – it will be up in a week or two! :)