Thursday, June 7, 2012

THB : Pear Pinwheel and Hazelnut Cake

It's time for our fourth bake at The Home Bakers (THB)! This fourth bake, Pear Pinwheel and Hazelnut Cake is chosen by my baking buddy, Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids. I think most of you would've already know Zoe, if you don't, then please drop by Zoe's wonderful blog with beautiful bakes and whilst you are there, take a look at a wonderful bi-monthly event started by Zoe, "Cook Like A Star". You can read all about this delicious event and join in!

Pear Pinwheel and Hazelnut Cake is categorized under Delectable Dessert Cakes in  the book "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas, where THB is currently baking from. Under this category, ground nuts serve as flour, lending both body and flavour in some of the cakes. The toppings are either fresh fruits, nuts and even chocolate wafer, all these take the place of frosting. I have always prefer cakes without frosting, and would usually omit the frosting for most cakes.

Our fellow bakers at THB, has wonderfully given some tips and advices, when they made this cake earlier. Thank you gals! 


This recipe calls for Anjou or Bosc pears, both of which are not easily found over here, and it also depends on the seasonal availability from overseas. So I used ripe fragrant pears from China.  The pears are sliced and tossed with a mixture of icing sugar, ground nutmeg and ground cinnamon. They are then arranged on the cake batter in a pinwheel pattern before baking.


 The pinwheel pattern is attractive and it looks nice.


From the picture in the book, this is a fairly low cake, as it does not contain any leavening at all. It uses toasted hazelnuts, ground with  2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour.  I do not like to ground nuts, so I used store-bought ground hazelnuts, mixed with  2 tablespoons of flour.



As usual, I reduced the sugar as I did in most recipes, especially since my fellow bakers at THB has commented how sweet this cake is! For this, I only use 1/3 cup loosely packed brown sugar instead of 1/2 cup tightly packed as per the original recipe. This was supposed to be baked in a 9-inch springform pan, and seeing how the others comments about how low this cake is, I baked this in a 7-1/2-inch loose-bottomed pan, which works out great. Thanks for all the wonderful tips, gals!


Overall review : Moist nutty cake, however, it is a little too moist for me, the pears releases some of its juices and makes the cake especially moist.  The pears tasted nice with the mixture of icing sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Overall this is a nice cake. My daughter likes it, but I personally do not favour it much. 


Please do visit Zoe for the recipe and stop by THB to see our fellow bakers bake on this moist nutty cake.


Welcome to The Home Bakers


THB is currently baking from Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas, if you would like to join in, please hop over to THB for details on how to become a member. Everyone's welcome!


Kitchen Flavour's notes :
~ use store-bought ground hazelnut
~ reduced brown sugar to 1/3 cup, loosely packed
~ replace almond essence with vanilla extract
~ baked in a 7-1/2 inch round loose-bottomed pan

35 comments:

  1. wah sedap nya..patut la i can smell the aroma of someone's baking something! :)

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  2. Looks lovely! But like you said, not my preferred taste. Had mine with a scoop of ice cream. Love the nutmeg and cinnamon flavour.

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  3. You are right that the pear does release some of its juice while baking and moisten up the cake base. I'm guessing that the variety of pears that you used might resulted an overall difference in the texture of this cake. For a second thought, I actually use 1 pear for half amount of the recipe and that's why my cake is might not be too moist compared to yours.

    I wouldn't say I love this cake like crazy but wouldn't say I hate it like crazy. Overall, I think this cake is ok... and it was fun pretending to bake like a "retro" baker. LOL!

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  4. Wow you did yours very beautifully. Now I know what is Anjou or Bosc pears. Thanks for the photo.

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    1. Hi Chris,
      The pear photo above is not Anjou or Bosc pears, they are fragrant pears from China. I am unable to get any Anjou or Bosc pears. :)

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  5. What a gorgeous pinwheel!

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  6. Like your cake presentation. It is very pretty. I seldom bake with ground nuts as it is quite costly. Thanks thanks for the tips and 'taste' of the cake :)

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  7. Joyce, its the complete opposite in my situation, I like the cake and my daughter doesn't :) Your pears are so pretty and I love the way your pinwheel looks.

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  8. So beautiful cake! I love pears but never made pear cake, great recipe!

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  9. It is so pretty and I bet it is so yummy too!Kisses,dear!

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  10. Incredible cake,nutty and yummy.

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  11. My Mother use to make a ground hazelnut bundt cake that was delicious, but it had no fruit so the texture remained good. This is a beautiful cake and I think would be tasty. I appreciate your honest reviews! Have a nice day, it is cold and rainy here.

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  12. so pretty! will be posting mine tomorrow..you see lah my pears..haha! anyway, the texture of mine is nice, more like a hazelnut cake. I got no problem finishing the cake in an hour..a small cake, everyone took a slice and that's it! yay! move on to next bake..haha!

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  13. Hi Joyce!

    Weiii your cake is taller than most of us! For your infor my DH loves this.....!!?? Anyways, can't wait till the next 'pear' bake!

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  14. My mouth IMMEDIATELY began watering as soon as I saw that photo.

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  15. Looks so beautiful, have never tasted pears in cakes..

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  16. I had baked a pear cake before and thought the taste was good, I didn't arrange the pears like you guys did, which I think makes the cake looks so beautiful!

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  17. You are so smart, using a smaller pan to make a taller cake. I am one of those who loved this cake and it is our taste so for me, this is a winner.

    You have such symmetry in this cake. You did a great job with it.

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  18. Beautiful! I love the pinwheel pears! I haven't buy pears yet.Maybe I will try to bake this next week. :)

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  19. I thought, I left you a comment, on your beautiful cake. I don't have the patience for pretty but you sure do.

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  20. it looks simply beautiful, i love the pinwheel shape you made with the pears

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  21. Joyce, very pretty pinwheel! fragrant pear is a very juicy and sweet kind of pear, i like :)

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  22. wow! that is gorgeous! so artistic looking ! thanks for sharing!

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  23. A moist and fine cake. The pear pinwheel looks so beautiful.

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  24. Like the pattern of the pinwheel. Bet the cake tastes fab!

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  25. The way you arranged the pears in a pinwheel-shaped is simply gorgeous & very special! I like the concept of this cake!

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  26. Like the way how you arranged the pear slices, look beautiful!

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  27. Hey you are just creative!!! Loved your creations dear..
    So how you been??? ;)

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  28. You know I did see it somewhere, I mean a similar cake and I was thinking of making it, it;s so pretty! I love your version with hazelnuts.
    Have a nice weekend my friend!

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  29. That is a gorgeous cake, and I just love the flavors! Wow!

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  30. Oh! I love your gorgeous pinwheel cake! Beautifully decorated with pears! I've never try hazelnut with pear! Hopefully I'll bake mine soon! A bit busy these days! Have a lovely day, Joyce! :)

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  31. What a beautiful pinwheel! I lack of creativity and didn't know that pear can be used for baking :p

    Just good at eating :D

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  32. eileen@hundred eighty degreesSunday, June 10, 2012

    A beautiful pinwheel! I might not be baking this time but still I will drop by to say hello.

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  33. The pinwheel is beautiful Joyce! Yea it's a bit hard to find the pears required for this bake... glad the substitution works out fine for you, I guess I'll try using fragrant pears in the future for other pear bakes too :)

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