Spiced beurre bosc pear, ricotta and almond cake

This is a deliciously spiced, dense yet moist pear cake with a delightful aroma. It has several layers, many ingredients and a long cooking time but don’t be alarmed – each step is easy and can be prepared over several days.

Spiced beurre bosc pear, ricotta and almond cake

• serves

  8

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  5 hours

• difficulty

  Ace

Ingredients

Roasted pears

• 5 beurre bosc pears, peeled and halved
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, split and scraped

Hazelnut meringue

• 3 eggwhites
• 1 pinch of table salt
• 100 g caster sugar
• 100 g hazelnuts, roasted, skinned and coarsely ground

Ricotta filling

• 320 g fresh dry ricotta (see Note)
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 lemons, fine zested
• 1 tbsp Poire Williams (pear eau di vie) (see Note)
• 1 tbsp caster sugar

Frangipane

• 250 g butter, softened and diced
• 250 g caster sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
• 1 tsp mixed ground spices (black pepper, cinnamon, clove and cardamom)
• 1 good pinch river salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 100 g almond meal
• 100 g dark roasted almonds, coarsely ground
• 50 g self-raising flour
• 1 eggwhite

 

• 2 tbsp brown sugar, to line tin
• pouring cream, to serve

Instructions

To make the roasted pears, preheat the oven to 150°C.

Get a baking tray big enough to hold all your pears with room to spare and line the base with a sheet of baking paper. Arrange the pears on top, cut-side down. Mix the water, sugar and vanilla seeds in a bowl and then sprinkle over the pears. Throw in the scraped pod too for good measure. Cover the pears with another sheet of baking paper and then cover the tray with foil.

Bake the pears for 1½ hours, remove the foil and top sheet of baking paper and return to the oven to cook for a further 30 minutes. By this stage the pears will be soft and slightly darker on their surface. Leave them somewhere to cool before gently placing them into a container. Set aside. (Store them in the fridge if making ahead.)

To make the hazelnut meringue, reduce the oven to 100°C.

Use a 23 cm diameter cake tin as a guide to trace out a circle with pencil onto a piece of baking paper. Place on a baking tray, with the pencil-side facing down.

Place your eggwhites into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the salt and whisk on low until they start to look foamy and fluffy. Turn the speed up a little as you slowly add in the sugar. Once all the sugar is added, mix on high until you have stiff and glossy peaks.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a spatula to fold in the hazelnuts. Spoon the meringue into the circle onto the lined baking sheet, making sure to stay just inside the circle. Make sure the surface is even. Bake at 100°C for 1½ hours.

Remove the meringue from the oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack. (At this stage the paper can be pulled away from the meringue and the meringue wrapped and stored for a few days.)

To make the ricotta filling, place the ricotta in a blender with the egg yolks, lemon zest, booze and sugar. Blend on high for about 1 minute or until the ricotta breaks down and everything is mixed through. The mixture should still be fairly thick. (Store in the fridge if making ahead.)

To make the frangipane, whisk the butter, sugar, vanilla seeds, spices and salt in a stand mixer until pale and fluffy, making sure to scrape down the sides. Add in an egg and whisk to combine, before adding in another and then finally adding in the egg yolk.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and use a spatula to fold in the almond meal, ground almond and flour. Set aside.

Bring all the elements out at room temperature just before you are ready to finish the cake. Increase the oven temperature to 150°C.

Sprinkle the brown sugar over the base of a baking paper-lined 23 cm diameter cake tin. Use a melon baller to remove the core from each pear half and arrange them in a nice pattern in your cake tin, flat-side down.

Use a small spatula to spoon over the ricotta filling. Use your fingers to gently spread the ricotta evenly over the pears, tapping the tin on the bench to allow the ricotta mix to settle down into the nooks.

Take your meringue sheet and place it onto the ricotta, pressing down. If it’s spread and is a little large, don’t worry too much - you should be able to push it all in.

Now whisk your lone egg white by hand until it forms soft peaks. Fold this through the frangipane.

Spoon the frangipane onto the meringue sheet and spread it evenly. The best way to do this is to wet your hands and then use them to gently to press down on the frangipane.

Bake the cake at 150°C for 1 hour, making sure to give it a turn halfway through, then reduce the temperature to 130°C and bake for another 20 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool to room temperature.

Use a knife to cut around the edge, place a plate on top of the tin, then flip it all together. The cake should easily fall out of the tin.

Serve warm with pouring cream.

Notes

• Try and find a good fresh ricotta that is still a little dry. If it’s too moist, hang it in some cheesecloth in your fridge overnight. Supermarket ricotta in a container isn’t really appropriate for this dish.

• Poire Williams is a pear brandy but feel free to substitute with another booze. Calvados or brandy would both work.

Photography by Sharyn Cairns. Styling by Lee Blaylock. Food preparation by Tiffany Page.

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This recipe is part of The seasonal cook: Pear column.

View previous The seasonal cook columns and recipes.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.