Golden Pear and Thyme Cake

Golden delicious pear and thyme.    Both  have a  nice light fragrant.  This is the third pear recipe this month! I bought these from the market, I guess that they must be in season now, as I seldom see this variety.  It is very  sweet and delicious.  The pairing of this pear with thymes is wonderful.  The cake turns out to be very moist and soft.  This recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of thyme leaves, but I think that adding a little bit more, maybe half a tablespoon more, would give a slightly more stronger fragrance of the thymes, which I find that the original amount is not enough in terms of flavour and smell, as thymes has a lighter fragrant and taste unlike other herbs which can be very strong.

Overall, this is a really nice cake to bake, it is so soft and moist.  If you have some extra pears around, and some  thymes in your garden, try making this lovely cake, it is great with a cup of hot tea.  I'm bringing this to Potluck Sunday at Mommy's Kitchen.



Golden Pear and Thyme Cake

(adapted from "brownies  &  bars" by Liz Franklin)

Makes 15
Preparation time : 1 hour and 20 minutes
You will need a lightly buttered, deep roasting pan or cake tin measuring 20 x 30 cm/8 x 12 inches

280 gm/10 oz butter
280 gm/10 oz caster sugar
4 firm, but ripe pears, peeled, cored and diced
4 eggs
250 gm/9 oz self-raising flour, sifted
1 tablespoon thyme leaves
1 tablespoon caster sugar, for sprinkling

Set the oven to180C/350F/gas mark 4.
Heat 30 gm/1 oz of butter and 30 gm/1 oz of the sugar together in a pan, until the sugar has dissolved.  Add the diced pear and cook for about 5 minutes, until the pear is golden and caramelised.  Leave to cool slightly.
Cream the remaining butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, a little at a time, stirring in between each addition, until the mixture is smooth and all the eggs are incorporated.
Add the flour, and then stir in the cooled pears with any buttery juices, and the thyme.  Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes, or until the cake is golden and springy.  Allow the cake to cool in the tin, scatter with the extra caster sugar, and then cut into squares.  Store in an airtight container.

(my notes :  I use only 160gm of sugar for the cake and 30gm for the pears)