Gingerbread Cake with Pears and Caramel

It's not too early in the season for gingerbread, right? Especially when it's a gingerbread cake that's covered in a layer of baked pears and has homemade caramel sauce poured all over it. Surely it's not too soon for that.

This loaf cake is what I call 'gingerbread light' in that I don't add a ton of molasses and keep the spices moderate. If you like the heavier aromatic notes of anise and clove, feel free to add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of each to the batter.

The star here is definitely the layer of thinly sliced pears baked on top of the cake. But also not to take away from the homemade salted caramel because that is just delicious. You can use jarred caramel, if you must. But homemade is so much better. You do you. Enjoy!

Yield: 10 Servings

Author: Anita Schecter

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Gingerbread Cake with Pears and Caramel

Prep time: 25 MinCook time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 25 M

Recipe for a gingerbread loaf cake topped with thinly sliced baked pears and drizzled with homemade salted caramel sauce.

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 1 Stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 Cup light brown sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 3 Tablespoons molasses
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Cup full fat Greek yogurt
• 2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Teaspoons baking powder
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 2 Teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 Pears, Bosc or other firm pear

For the Caramel Sauce:

• 1/2 Cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1/2 Cup heavy cream
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• Sea salt, to taste

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour a standard loaf pan.
2. Cream together the unsalted butter and light brown sugar, using a stand or hand mixer, until lightened in color. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the molasses, vanilla and Greek yogurt.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg. Stir the dry ingredients into wet, just until incorporated.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Peel and core the pears. Cut into thin slices and place on top of the batter. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before removing from the pan.
5. To make the caramel, add the granulated sugar and water to a heavy bottomed pot on low heat and allow the sugar to melt. Raise the heat to medium and cook until it begins to color. Do not walk away because it can burn quickly.
6. Pour in the heavy cream (the mixture will bubble up) and stir. If pieces of sugar clump up, continue stirring, on low heat, until they dissolve. Stir in the butter and sea salt.
7. Pour the caramel sauce over the cake and serve.

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