Variety is the spice of life, at least that's what the expression says. Which I tend to agree with, even if we can take comfort in knowing a little what to expect of our day to day life, it's still what comes out of the ordinary that will make it so much more interesting.
When it comes to food, I'd say that spicies are the variety of cooking. Have you ever tried bread, where they had forgotten the salt? All the sudden something so delicious, turns to be something so bland. Just a few pinches of spicies make all the difference.
I personnaly don't like food that's too hot, spice wise, because it's not what I'm used to and maybe also because I'm a sissy ;) But I love spicies in food, discovering blends that are exotic to me, will give a traditional dish a whole new twist. Even in baking, finding the right combination can take a dessert to an other level.
Pears are one of my favorit autumn fruit, first because they are a perfect match with chocolate, but also because you can easily use them in a savory dish aswell. Making this spicy pear cake is better than any sented candle, it will make your kitchen smell heavenly good, and the cake itself is a delight with a hot cup of tea, to keep you warm on a colder evening.
Spicy Pear Cake (from the best of 2011 of the magazine Saveurs)
150gr of Flour
115gr of Butter
3 Eggs
130gr of Dark Demerara Sugar
50gr of Ground Almonds
2 packs of Vanilla Sugar
2 Pears
1 Teaspoon of 4 Spicies
1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon of Dried Ginger
1 Teaspoon of Dried Cardamom
1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
A Pinch of Salt
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Combine the flour, the sugar and vanilla sugar, the ground almonds, the spicies, the baking powder and the salt. Basically, all your dry ingredients are supposed to be combined.
Melt the butter and add it to the dry ingredients, aswell as the eggs. Whisk everything well together.
Cut the pears into cubes and add them to your batter.
In a cake tin, buttered and lined with baking parchement, pour in the batter and put it in the oven for about 50 minutes.
Check if it's done with a knife, and let it cool for 5 minutes before taking it out of the cake tin, to let it cool completly on a rack.
