Poached Pear Cake – Poached Pears with a Classic French Yogurt Cake

While in France, it is super fun to wander the cobblestone streets and “window shop” – not only for antiques and local made wares, but for amazing treats. The displays in bakery windows and at the counters are next level. Baking is truly an art form. The best part of it is, the richness in flavor that matches the beauty of the dessert. It is obvious that much care is taken in the choice of ingredients. Taking care in choosing high quality, local when available, ingredients is also part of the “food culture” here in the Pacific Northwest. This Poached Pear Cake is a shining example of a beautiful, artful, and tasty dessert.

While at the grocery, I found these beautiful red pears from the Wenatchee Valley in Washington. Definitely calling out to be the feature of something lovely. Poached Pear Cake was the obvious choice. Poaching pears is a tradition in France. Historically, pears have been poached in wine. In this buttery, tangy, yogurt cake, poaching pears in a simple syrup adds some sweetness and complexity to the simple cake. The lovely poached pears are added to the top of this classic French Yogurt Cake. This “Gâteau au Yaourt” cake is on the denser side, but still moist. It works perfectly for the base of this lovely cake. It could also be baked sans pears and topped with berries, peaches, or any seasonal fruit. Serving a lightly sweetened whipped cream on the side is a must.

Minor Tweaks to Create something special

I tried several variations of the French Yogurt Cake, settling on this version. It has some minor tweaks from the classic recipe. For more depth, I substituted some of the granulated sugar with some Brown Sugar. I also added a small amount of cinnamon and cardamom, which adds a slight bit of warmth, complimenting the pears beautifully. My favorite version was made with Whole Milk Greek Yogurt (instead of regular yogurt). The Greek yogurt added a nice “tang” and a slightly denser crumb. This cake itself is SUPER simple and quick. The poached pears are not difficult, but take a little bit of love as far as pealing, poaching, and “fanning”. All in all, the small amount of effort for the cake is worth it for the beautiful and scrumptious final product. Enjoy!

Poached Pear Cake – Poached Pear with a Classic French Yogurt Cake

5 from 1 vote

A Beautiful Classic French Dessert

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Prep Time:15 minutes mins

Cook Time:45 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Keyword: French Pear Cake, French Poached Pear Cake, French Yogurt Cake, Poached Pear Cake

Ingredients

Poached Pears

• 2 Fresh Pears
• 2/3 Cups Sugar
• 2 Cups Water
• 1/2 Lemon – both Juice and Zest Be sure to zest lemon before you cut it in half, as it is difficult to zest a cut, half lemon
• Pinch Salt
• 1 Cinnamon Stick

Cake

• 3/4 Cup Butter, Softened
• 3/4 Cup Sugar
• 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 3 Large Eggs – Room Temperature It is important in this recipe that the eggs be room temperature. If you are in a hurry, you can put the eggs in a bowl with quite warm water. This will bring them up to temperature quickly.
• 1½ Cup Plain Whole Milk Greek Yogurt
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2¼ Cups All Purpose Flour Can substitute with Einkorn
• 3 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Cardamom
• Powdered Sugar for Dusting

Instructions

Poached Pears

• In a smaller, shallow pan, add Sugar, Water, Lemon Juice, Lemon Zest, Salt, and Cinnamon Stick. Bring to a simmer.
  
• Peel Pears and cut them in half lengthwise. Remove the stems, seeds, and cores.
  
• Gently place prepared Pears in syrup. The syrup should almost cover the pears. Simmer for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, turn pears over to cook other side. Simmer for 5 more minutes.
  
• Remove pears to a plate and let cool.

Cake

• Place rack in middle of the oven. Preheat to 350℉
• Prepare a 9" springform pan by spraying generously with non stick spray.
• Soften (not melt) Butter in the microwave. Add to a large mixing bowl. Add both the Granulated Sugar and Brown Sugar to the butter. Using a hand mixer (or a whisk with some elbow grease), mix until light and fluffy and well combined, about 1-2 minutes
  
• Add Eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  
• Gently stir in the Yogurt and Vanilla Extract. Stir until combined.
  
• Add the Flour, Salt, Baking Powder, and Spices to the wet ingredients. Gently stir until just combined, taking care not to over mix as over mixing will make a tougher cake.
  
• Spoon the batter into the prepared springform pan. Use an offset spatula to level out the top.
  

Assemble

• Prepare the Poached Pears by cutting them length wise in thin slices, taking care to NOT CUT ALL THE WAY THROUGH. You will leave the stem end of the pear in tact, which will act as the base of your "Pear Fan" when you fan the slices out on the top of the cake.
  
• Arrange the pear halves on the top of the cake by fanning out the slices. Place the stem side of the pear toward the center of the cake and the fanned slices toward the edge. Do not press the Poached Pears into the batter, just gently set them on top.
  

Bake

• Pop in the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.
• Remove cake from oven. Leave in springform pan to cool. Once cooled, remove outer ring and place cake on serving tray.
  
• Dust with Powdered Sugar. Slice and serve with homemade whipped cream or some lovely vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!