- Serves 10 - Ready in 2 hours including 40 minutes of cooling time) -
Adapted from this Nigella recipe.
*uses up 4 medium/small-sized unripe pears*
Gather together…
200g white (granulated or caster) sugar.
100g pistachio nuts (raw, unsalted and with shells removed).
450g unripe pears (approximately 4 - 5 medium/small ones), remove cores before weighing, but LEAVE the skins ON. Or use ripe-ish pears without microwaving them. DON'T use soft, ripe pears in this recipe.
200g ground almonds.
1.5 tsp baking powder (sieved).
6 medium eggs (beaten slightly).
1 tsp vanilla extract (the Taylor & Colledge brand is fairtrade certified / the Dr Oetker brand is alcohol free).
Serve with…
1 tbsp warmed honey.
Small handful of pistachio nuts (roughly chopped / crushed).
Get cooking…
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C (160 C fan) or Gas 4.
2. Grease and base-line a 9 inch / 23 cm spring-form circular cake tin, with butter plus baking parchment (or better still, a reusable cut-to-size silicone liner, like this from Lakeland).
3. Chop the 450g of (cored) unripe pears (with skins still ON) into smallish chunks (you don't have to chop precisely as they'll be blitzed in the food processor) - now double check the weight as sneaking in extra pear will stop the cake from baking properly. Place unripe the pear chunks in a microwavable dish, cover with a loose lid and heat on HIGH for 2 minutes until the pear chunks are warmed and a bit softer. If the pears are ripe-ish already, there's no need to microwave.
4. Meanwhile put the 200g of white sugar and the 100g of pistachios into a food processor and blitz for 30 seconds, until reduced to fairly-fine crumbs.
5. Add the warmed pear chunks to the food processor and blitz for 30 - 60 seconds until pulverised. The pear will turn to mush and all of the ingredients will fit in the food processor!
6. Add the 200g ground almonds and sieve in the 1.5 tsp of baking powder. Blitz for 10 seconds to just combine.
7. Add the 6 medium (beaten) eggs, plus the 1 tsp of vanilla extract and blitz for a final time (10 - 20 seconds) to combine fully. The mixture will look VERY runny (and unpleasant!) - this is exactly as it should look at this stage.
8. Pour the cake 'batter' into the prepared (base-lined and greased) tin.
9. Bake the cake in the oven for 45 min (cover with foil after 30 minutes if it is browning too fast) until a skewer comes out clean when inserted vertically into the middle of the cake. It probably won't look very dark on top, even once fully baked - so DON'T overbake it!
10. Let the finished cake cool for 10 minutes in the tin. Then go around the edge of the cake with a flat knife before removing the spring form part of the tin. Leave the cake sitting on the metal cake tin base (on top of a wire rack) to cool further. When very warm it is a fragile cake. Tipping it upside down to remove the cake tin base will mean you lose the top layer of cake. WAIT for 30 minutes, until the cake is cooler and firmer, before sliding the base away.
11. Once the cake has cooled enough to be removed from the tin, gently heat the 1 tbsp of honey in the microwave (in a small microwave-safe bowl for just a few seconds on HIGH). Drizzle it over the cake and spread with the back of a metal spoon. Scatter the small handful of crushed pistachio nuts over the glaze and press down the nut fragments gently with the back of the spoon to ensure they stick.
12. Leave the cake to cool further or enjoy it whilst still warm. Keep this moist cake in an airtight container in the fridge and eat it up within three days.
Adapted slightly from Nigella's Pear. Pistachio and Rose Cake recipe - I removed the rose water (as it's not an ingredient I own or like) and used vanilla essence instead. I reduced the size of the eggs used. I added in the microwaving-of-the-pears stage, (the original recipe uses ripe pears) as in my experience pears are, more-often-than-not, hard and unripe. Plus I blitz the ingredients more gradually than the original recipe, as my food processor couldn't cope with lots of chunky ingredients all at the same time. I also simplified the glaze to suit the ingredients I had to hand. Nigella is a genius - it is a completely unusual, completely delicious cake.
#seasonal #pear #pistachio # nigella