I first made this cake on our wedding anniversary. I wrote the date with a heart alongside it on the torn-out recipe page from a magazine. That was almost seven years ago, and this is still a go-to recipe of mine.
While the pears were originally included as part of the crumble, I wanted to give the cake even more of a fall flavor boost. So I pulled out the pears, cooked them down with a bit more butter, sugar and cinnamon and turned it into a syrupy, cinnamony pear sauce that nestles itself perfectly between the dense sour cream coffee cake and the buttery spiced crumble.
This cake would be a welcome addition to your next brunch get together. But let's be honest, it'd always be welcome any time.
Pear Crumble Cake
- Prep Time: 50 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Category: Coffee Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Scale
For the Sauce:
- 2 TB unsalted butter
- 4 firm-ripe pears - peeled, cored and cut into bite-size chunks
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
For the Crumble:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp fine-grain salt (like table or sea salt)
- 1 stick plus 6 TB unsalted butter, room temperature (14 TB)
For the Cake:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp fine-grain salt (like table or sea salt)
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (16 TB), plus more for greasing the pan
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ¼ cups full-fat sour cream
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Sauce:
- In a frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter.
- Add in the cut pears, sugar and cinnamon and stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar melts, the pears start to soften and the sauce smells heavenly and is getting a little soupy, about 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and let the sauce cool in the pan while preparing the rest of the cake.
For the Crumble:
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and salt.
- Using your hands, rub in the softened butter until incorporated and clumps of the mixture start to form.
- Refrigerate the crumble until thoroughly chilled, about 20 minutes.
For the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and parchment-line a 9x13 metal baking pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the 2 sticks of softened butter with the sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in the sour cream and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, lower the mixer speed to the slowest setting, and add in the dry ingredients just until fully incorporated.
- Scrap the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it into an even layer. Top the batter with the cooled pear sauce, spreading evenly. Cover with the crumble topping.
- Bake for about 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the crumble topping is browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool on a wire rack for a good hour before enjoying.
Notes
- You can start preheating the oven and assembling the ingredients for the cake part of the recipe while the Crumble is chilling.
- The tried-and-true toothpick test is a little tricky with this cake, as the Crumble is so thick and the Pear Sauce will always make the cake seem a little "wet." I still use a toothpick, but it also helps to rely on your senses a bit more with this recipe to avoid an over-baked (i.e. dry) cake. The cake is done when it feels firm when lightly pressed in the center and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan.
- As with many fruit cakes, I think this tastes even better the next day. I like to make the cake in the evening, and then serve it the next day, letting all the juices and flavors mingle together overnight.
- Recipe adapted from the January 2014 issue of Food and Wine magazine.
Tiffany Voltz
This recipe....oh my word! Not sure if I can do it justice with a review, but I'll give it my best try. I made this for Thanksgiving morning as a way to hold off our hunger before the big feast with something warm and delicious. This more than fit the bill! The recipe was easy to follow and it was so refreshing to bake something with pears. I normally lean into apples and cranberries during that time of the year. My family members were left with smiles and ooos and yums, and one remarked, you have to make this for Christmas brunch. Ummm, we've never done Christmas brunch before, but I guess we have a new tradition because of this awesome pear cake! 🙂
Sarah Marx Feldner
Tiffany - Thank you for the most AMAZING review. Wow! I am so happy to hear the cake was a success for you and your family. And the new Christmas brunch tradition sounds like a win all around. xoxoxo ❤️