If At First You Don't Succeed….. The Banana, Pear and Walnut Cake

Apples and Pears

I’m obsessed with pears right now. I suppose it began in Paris…….

beautiful pear tarts at Patisserie Gerald Mulot (oh, to be back there now…….)

I know that apples tend to hold sway with most people at this time of year, and I do love lots of different apples. But, I adore the all-around delicacy and allure of a lovely ripe pear – not to mention their gorgeous autumnal hues and shades. While I was in France and over the last week or so, I’ve been running around snapping photos of all the pears I can find.

at Dean and Deluca

Another one of my dear Mom’s perennial-advice-phrases was the one above, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” I can still hear her saying it to me – along with perhaps my fav, “Use your head for something other than a hat.” How I miss her! She was the best, in the kitchen and out!

Over the past two days I have been imagining a nice Fall cake with Bananas and Pears. I find that when I am out walking the dog in the early morning, thoughts of all kinds of baked goods come swirling into my head (a Cherry Crumb Cake is lurking there). I don’t know what it is about the change of the seasons in this regard – there just seem to be all sorts of psychic messages floating through the air, among them being – “roast, bake, nest”.

I have never tried the banana-pear combination before, but thought the two fruits might have a nice affinity for each other. I looked around on the internet for an existing recipe and didn’t find anything exactly to my liking. So, I went into experimental mode. I made one cake this morning and I was not happy with the results. I am sure my ratios were off (harken back to the pastry school classroom). It looked ok, but the crumb wasn’t right.

So, I went in search again and found Gale Gand’s Applesauce Cake recipe. Using this recipe as a guide, I made a couple of minor adjustments – subbing in my purée of banana and pear, adding the walnut elements, adjusting the spice and changing to light brown sugar. Here’s what came out of the oven, the second time around:

BANANA,PEAR and WALNUT CAKE – adapted from Gale Gand’s Applesauce Cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups light brown sugar

1 ripe banana plus 2-3 ripe bosc (or other) pears, peeled, cored and puréed to yield 2 cups (do not use unripe pears-they should be very slightly softened around stem and when peeled look juicy)

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 generous tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 cup ground walnuts for dusting the pan plus 1/4 cup ground walnuts for batter

butter for pan

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9″ springform pan, place a parchment round on bottom and butter it as well. Place 1/2 cup of the ground walnuts in the pan and swirl around to coat the exterior, sticking to the butter. Tap out excess. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together until well-blended. Scrape down bowl and paddle as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time and blend in, scraping as needed. Add the vanilla on low speed and blend in. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, remaining 1/4 cup of the ground walnuts, and nutmeg. With the mixer on low add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Follow with 1 cup of the purée, then 1/3 of the flour, then the other cup of the purée and then the last 1/3 of the flour. Mix on low almost until the flour disappears. Take bowl off the mixer and finish blending with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until puffed, browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the cake and release the spring of the collar. Remove the collar. Let cake cool completely before slicing.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream with a splash of Pear Brandy and a sprig of mint. Enjoy!

this shot was taken after an overnight stay in my covered cake dish – now, I’m wishing I had cut it last night, so I could have seen the crumb before it spent those hours under cover. This is a lovely cake for snacking, dessert or even with a steaming mug of coffee in the am. Next time around, I am going to try to lighten this one step further toward more of a chiffon texture. We shall see.