Pear Cake - Quatre Quarts Aux Poires

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1

Servings: people

The quintessential pear cake, or quatre-quarts aux poires, is a forever fail-proof dessert. This is a very homey version that's super easy to prepare and enjoy at the end of your evening meal.

Ingredients

½ cup vanilla sugar
3 tablespoons vanilla sugar
4 pears, medium size, peeled, cored, quartered and cut into even slices
2 tablespoons Brandy
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup all-purpose flour

US - Metric

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325F
Use two tablespoons of butter and generously butter the inside, bottom, and sides of a 10-inch spring form pan. Sprinkle two tablespoons of vanilla sugar over the butter and shake the pan to distribute the sugar on the bottom and side.
Arrange the pear slices in a circular format starting on the outer edge of the pan, overlapping them. Arrange them in a way that looks pretty, although a bit difficult at times. Fill the interior portion with the remaining pears.
Sprinkle one tablespoon of Brandy and one tablespoon of sugar over the pears.
Cream the butter with the remaining seven tablespoons of unsalted butter in the bowl of your stand-alone mixer or medium bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well after each addition.
Add the flour and mix gently until all the flour is gone. Add the remaining tablespoon of Brandy.
Spoon the batter over the pears in a thin layer to cover the pears. Do not worry if it does not cover well, as it will be distributed once it bakes.
Bake until the cake is firm and starts to get a nice golden color, about 45 to 55 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let it cool off on a rack. Remove the outer mold ring and serve as it is.

Equipment

Notes

Pears tend to turn if left exposed to the air for too long. If you cut them and don't use them right away, squeeze lemon juice over them to prevent them from turning brown.
Do not use overly ripe pears, as they will disintegrate during baking.

Nutrition

Giangi's Kitchen provides nutritional information, but these figures should be considered estimates, as a registered dietician does not calculate them.