One of the joys of being home, is being back in the kitchen, even if it is just making poached eggs on toast for breakfast. It is also a joy to go shopping and see the fruits of autumn – the apples, the feijoas and best of all, pears. Like the cook and food writer Nigel Slater, I love pears. But they are fickle fruits, and may only be at their “point of perfection for a day or two, the slide into over-ripeness can be sudden” (Nigel Slater).
Being away has meant that I haven’t baked for a while, but I had spotted a recipe for a pear, rye and cardamom cake few weeks ago that I really wanted to make. I had even popped into Commonsense Organics to purchase the necessary rye flour (so nice to scoop it into a brown paper bag too). There was no getting away from it, I had to bake Ruby Tandoh’s pear, rye and cardamom cake.
The recipe called for dark rye flour, which I couldn’t find, so I used a light rye flour. In retrospect, I made a mistake using cardamom powder because I had some in the store cupboard. She suggests cardamom pods, which of course would have given a much richer, more spicy flavour. Ah well..next time.
The recipe (follow the link above) is really easy, the result a soft and fluffy loaf cake, which goes so well with the suggested butter, with a dollop of thick, Greek yoghurt or just plain on its own. This cake went so well with my weekly cup of coffee, and the next day, with a cup of tea. In fact, an all round good cake.
Verdict: 8/10 for ease of recipe and taste. Cardamom and pears – what a combination.
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