Warm Honeyed Pear Cake Food

HONEY CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED PEARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 10-inch springform pan. Dust with flour; tap out excess. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl; set aside. Mix eggs and sugars on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until pale and thick, about 3 minutes.
• Whisk together honey, milk, oil, and zest. With mixer on low, add honey mixture to egg mixture; mix until combined, about 1 minute. Add half the flour mixture; mix until smooth. Mix in remaining flour mixture. Pour batter into pan.
• Bake until dark golden brown and a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around edge of cake; carefully remove sides of pan.Transfer cake to a platter. Top with pears. Serve with whipped cream or topping, if desired.

HONEY ROASTED PEARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°. Core pears from bottom, leaving stems intact. Place in a greased 11x7-in. baking dish. Sprinkle with cardamom, sugar, cinnamon and cloves. In a small saucepan, combine water and honey; bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Pour over pears., Bake, uncovered, until tender, 45-55 minutes, basting every 15 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream.

WARM HONEYED PEAR CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch springfrom pan using about half a tablespoon of the butter.
• Toss the pears with the lemon juice and set aside.
• Sift flour with three tablespoons of the sugar, the baking powder and salt into a bowl. Cut in five tablespoons of the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. This step may be done in a food processor, first blending the dry ingredients, then pulsing in the butter.
• Beat the egg and milk together and lightly stir into the butter-and-flour mixture until a soft, sticky dough forms.
• Spread the dough in the baking pan and sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of sugar. Arrange the pears on top and drizzle with about a third of a cup of the honey. Dot with remaining butter.
• Bake 50 minutes to an hour, until nicely browned.
• Remove from the oven and serve while still warm, first removing the sides of the pan and drizzling the top of the cake with the remaining honey.

HONEYED PEARS IN PUFF PASTRY

Steps:

• Core pears from bottom, leaving stems intact. Peel pears; cut 1/4 in. from the bottom of each to level if necessary., In a large saucepan, combine the water, sugar, honey, lemon halves, cinnamon and cloves. Split vanilla bean and scrape seeds; add bean and seeds to sugar mixture. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; place pears on their sides in saucepan and poach, uncovered, until almost tender, basting occasionally with poaching liquid, 16-20 minutes., Remove pears with a slotted spoon; cool slightly. Strain and reserve 1-1/2 cups poaching liquid; set aside., Unfold puff pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 1/2-in.-wide strips. Brush lightly with beaten egg. Starting at the bottom of a pear, wrap a pastry strip around pear, adding additional strips until pear is completely wrapped in pastry. Repeat with remaining pears and puff pastry., Transfer to a parchment-lined 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake on a lower oven rack at 400° until golden brown, 25-30 minutes., Meanwhile, bring reserved poaching liquid to a boil; cook until liquid is thick and syrupy, about 10 minutes. Place pears on dessert plates and drizzle with syrup. Serve warm.