Now it's December I can fully get into the Christmas spirit, and that includes Xmas baking, this pear and ginger spice cake is the essence of Christmas, infused with ginger and winter spices, it will really get you in the festive mood. So put on some Christmas music and bake yourself a cake!
I used a mix of stem ginger in syrup and ground ginger to really deliver that ginger flavour, and the sweetness in this cake is delivered by dates and dark muscavado sugar for extra stickiness, the pears are also glazed with ginger syrup to keep the cake moist. This cake is so delicious and is great to share with friends and family this festive season, it's partway between a cake and traditional gingerbread and delicious all the way!
The cake goes wonderfully with a cup of tea and is perfect at any time of the day! When cooking, this cake fills the house with the most wonderful scent that is filled of warm spices and delivers that magical feeling of christmas time. It's also a great alternative to a fruit cake, packed with pears, ginger, dates and nuts, but a great alternative to those who don't like christmas cake.
I baked the cake in a 20cm tin, but if you have a different size then you may have to adjust baking time accordingly. I also used half white flour and half wholemeal in this cake as to not make it too tough, but you could use all wholemeal or all white if you wish.
Pear and Ginger Spice Cake | Serves: 8-10 | Time: 1hr 30 mins
You'll need
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring cups
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Jug
- 20cm spring-form cake tin
- Grease-proof paper
- Pastry brush
Ingredients
- 1 cup wholemeal plain flour
- 1 cup white plain flour
- 1/2 cup dark muscavado sugar
- 1.5 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
- 1.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup dates, pitted and finely chopped
- 4 pieces stem ginger (in syrup), roughly chopped
- 1 pear
- 2-3 tbsp of stem ginger syrup
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease the bottom of a spring-form tin, line with a circle of grease-proof paper and then grease the whole tin.
- Chop the pear into quarters, remove the core then chop each quarter into thin slices and arrange on the bottom of the tin.
- Add the flours, sugar, baking soda, salt, spices and nuts to the bowl and mix together.
- Combine the soy milk and vinegar in a jug and allow to thicken. Meanwhile, finely chop the dates and roughly chop the ginger and add these to the jug too. Measure out the oil and vanilla extract and combine in the jug.
- Pour the contents of the jug into the mixing bowl and combine. Then transfer the mix into the cake tin and bake for 50-55 minutes.
- Cool for 15 minutes, before turning out onto a plate or cake stand. Carefully remove the greaseproof paper and brush the cake with 2-3 tbsp of ginger syrup. Slice, serve and enjoy!
Cassidy xx
