Pear Cake with Caramel Sauce and Fresh Whipped Cream

I've eaten a lot of wedding and birthday cakes lately. So now that it's my birthday I decided to take it easy by making a bundt cake. I'm a big fan of pears and caramel so I looked around for some recipes and my birthday cake was born.

Pear Cake

4  ripe Bartlett pears, peeled and diced (about 3 cups)
1  tablespoon  sugar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3  large eggs
2  cups  sugar
1 1/4  cups  vegetable oil
3  cups  all-purpose flour
1  teaspoon  salt
1  teaspoon  baking soda
1  cup roasted pecans, coarsely chopped
2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
Caramel Glaze

Toss together pears and 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand 5 minutes.

Beat eggs, 2 cups sugar, and oil at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended.

Combine flour, salt, and baking soda, and add to egg mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Fold in pears, chopped pecans, and vanilla extract. Sprinkle brown sugar into a greased and floured 10-inch Bundt pan and top with batter.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Remove from pan, and drizzle with caramel.

Salted Caramel Sauce

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Mix the water and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sugar dissolves. Do not stir. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm chestnut brown (about 350 degrees F on a candy thermometer), about 5 to 7 minutes, gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. Be careful – the mixture is extremely hot! Watch the mixture very carefully at the end, as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly. Turn off the heat. Stand back to avoid splattering and slowly add the cream and vanilla. Don't worry - the cream will bubble violently and the caramel will solidify.

Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. It will thicken as it sits. Stir and season with salt.

Fresh Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Make sure your cream is nice and cold - it will make it easier to whip. Pour the cream into the bowl.  Begin to whip on medium speed with your electric mixer (this can be done by hand, but it's quite tiring) until it becomes fluffy.  Gently stir in the sugar and vanilla, adjust the sweetness to taste, and keep mixing until the cream has formed soft peaks.

Comments

[Chris]

Happy Early Birthday!

[nilblogette]

Happy Birthday Bloghungry! I hope you had some of this cake for breakfast. I woke up wishing I got to start my day with it and a big glass of milk.

[Josh]

Happy birthday

[Guy]

29's a good year. Enjoy it!

[habitat67]

Hmmm... this sounds good... I have been perfecting a recipe for a pear and gingerbead upside-down cake... I think I've finally got everything set... Foxy informs me that upside-down cakes are the new red velvet. who knew?

ohh... and happy bday of course :-)