Gluten-Free Pear and Almond Cake

5 from 3 votes

Gluten-Free Pear and Almond Cake

Gluten-Free Pear and Almond Cake makes the most of this season’s fresh pears. Deliciously moist, delicately flavoured and easy to make. This pear cake recipe is made with your favourite gluten-free flour, almond flour and needs no xanthan gum for a perfect structure and wonderful taste.

Prep Time20

Cook Time1 5

Total Time1 25

Course: Cake

Cuisine: British

Servings:

Calories: 398kcal

Author: Georgina Hartley

Equipment

8x4” cake tin

Ingredients

2 pears ripe, (about 450g)
Juice ½ lemon
2 tablespoons tapioca starch tapioca flour
220 g almond flour ground almonds in UK
220 g gluten-free flour *see notes
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
150 g caster sugar
150 g unsalted butter
4 eggs medium
50 g olive oil
30 g maple syrup
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract optional
30 g flaked almonds

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C/ 150°C fan / gas mark 3.
Place a round of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan and lightly grease with baking spray.
Peel, core and slice the pears very finely. Place in lemon juice whilst you prepare the cake batter.
Cream the butter and sugar on a medium speed for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
Break the eggs into a large measuring jug and add into the butter and sugar one at a time and beat until well combined.
Pour the maple syrup, olive oil and vanilla extract into a measuring jug.
Whisk the gluten-free flour, almond flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt together in separate mixing bowl.
Add the flour mixture into the rest of the ingredients, alternately with the liquid ingredients, adding the flour in three additions and the wet in two (begin and end with the flour), scrape down the sides of the bowls as needed and mix until just combined.
Drain the sliced pear from the lemon juice, and dice finely. Toss the diced pear in the tapioca flour until the flour has been absorbed then mix the pear into the rest of the cake batter until evenly dispersed.
Pour into the tin smooth the top of the cake and scatter the flaked almonds over the top of the cake.
Bake for 65-70 minutes or until an inserted cocktail stick comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and leave to settle for 5 minutes in its tin, slide a palette knife around the edges to loosen, then turn out onto a wire rack.
Leave to cool completely before serving.

Video

Notes

Your pears should be perfectly ripe – not too soft and not too hard.
Concord, Comice, Williams or Conference Pears all work well.
This cake uses medium sized eggs which are 60g each with shell, 50g without shell.
Almond Flour. This recipe calls for almond flour which is blanched and ground whole almonds (without their skin). In the UK this kind of flour is sold in most major UK supermarkets labelled 'ground almonds' in the baking aisle. To make sure you know which almond flour you are choosing then check against this article The Difference Between The Almond Flours.
Gluten-Free Flour. This recipe will work with your favourite gluten-free flour blend. It has been tested with Doves Farm Gluten-Free Plain White Flour and my Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Blend. No xanthan gum is needed for this recipe, however if your blend does contain xanthan gum then that will work fine too.
Allow the pear cake to cool completely before cutting into it as the crumb gets firmer as it cools.

How to store: Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

How to freeze: Cool completely then double wrap in plastic wrap and aluminium foil to protect it well in the freezer. Thaw at room temperature overnight before unwrapping. Allow to breathe for half an hour before serving.

Ingredient measurements

Please note when you see ‘grams’ listed as opposed to ‘millilitres,’ or any other term of measurement, that is not incorrect. I weigh all of my ingredients, including liquids, for accuracy.
US customary measurements for the ingredients provided are based on a conversion calculator. This recipe was tested with metric measurements and I recommend using a digital scale to weigh ingredients for the most accurate results. READ MORE >>> Why you should always weigh vs measuring with cups

Nutrition information

Please note that the nutrition information provided below is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. It will vary based on the specific ingredients you use. Please seek a professional nutritionist’s advice for further clarification.

The nutrition serving is for 1 slice of cake, assuming the cake is cut into 12 servings.

Nutrition