Just the other day I went for what in Germany they call Kaffe und Kuchen, or coffee and cake. It’s pretty self descriptive, right? Just in case, I’ll elaborate. You take a friend or two, pick a nice place to sit at and have a chat on a Sunday afternoon (or any other afternoon, for that matter) and you order cake and coffee. Tea works too.
So I saw this lonesome piece of cake that had a lovely hand-written sign next to it that claimed: Carrot, pear and ginger cake. And I thought to myself: what an absolutely amazing combination, why haven’t I thought about it before?
Once my friends and me had tried it and given it a solid thumbs up as verdict, I decided to try my luck at making my own. It has taken a while to perfect, because it’s a hybrid between cake and pie: it has a first layer of delicious carrot sponge, then a layer of delightfully spiced pear, and a crumbly top which adds just the right amount of crunch. I took inspiration from this German apple crumble cake. I definitely cannot be modest about this one: it really is a cracker!
And now that I’ve added the vegan version down on the Bonus Tips section, you really have no excuse! Have I convinced you yet?
- 2 pears, peeled and sliced thinly
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- lemon juice
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 150g grated carrots
- 250g gluten-free flour
- 50g erythritol
- 1 tsp baking powder
- dash of salt
- 2 eggs
- 125ml water
- 35ml vegetable oil
- 175g gluten-free flour
- 125g butter
- 50g erythritol
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ginger
- Preheat the oven to 200°C / 400°F. Grease 25cm cake tin.
- Pour lemon juice and the cinnamon over the pears and reserve.
- Mix together the flour, both sugars, baking powder and salt in a big bowl.
- Add the grated carrots and ginger, stirring to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, and oil until foamy.
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
- Drop the batter into the tin (I used a 25cm), making sure to cover the bottom well.
- Place the sliced pears over the batter as evenly as possible, and leave a thin outer edge. You can stack them if need be.
- Mix the flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon and ginger for the crumb top. Sprinkle over the pear covering it well.
- Bake at 200°C / 400F for 20 minutes and then another 10 minutes covered with tinfoil, so the top doesn’t burn. Now exercise all the patience you can muster before you dive into it head first!
BONUS TIPS:
- Would you like to make this cake with all-vegan ingredients? I’ll show you how easy this is: substitute 2 eggs for 2 flaxeggs and 125g butter for 125g margarine or coconut oil.
- You can also use Young Living cinnamon essential oil for this recipe!
