Fresh pear cream slice

This scrumptious pear cream slice cake is made with fresh pears and cream. It is quick enough to mix together for an easy family cake, and yet it is elegant enough to serve for an afternoon tea with friends.

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Fresh pear cream slice

This fresh pear cream slice is a deliciously different cake. It is made with fresh pears and a cream-based batter, which sets to a creamy custardy texture, quite unlike a normal cake.

There is no shortening in this pear cake, instead the fat content of the cake batter is derived from double (or whipping) cream. This recipe is based on my recipe for easy apple cake, but instead of using oil in the batter, the pear cake batter is mixed with thick whipped cream. This gives the pear cake a custardy texture which is ultra moist and creamy.

The sliced pears are placed on top of the cake batter in a baking tin, and as the cake bakes, the pears drop down, and the batter sets around them. The result is a moist and tasty creamy cake, with a normal cake crumb on the top and mouth-wateringly creamy texture beneath.

This cake does not rise very much, but what it lacks in height, it certainly makes up for in taste!

How to make a fresh pear cream slice

You can get the complete recipe for this fresh pear cream slice on the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

You will need 2 to 3 medium-sized pears, and once sliced, there should be sufficient pears to completely cover the batter.

Start by peeling, coring and slicing the fresh pears. Slice the pears into 1/4 inch slices. Don’t worry if the pears are not uniformly sliced – they will sink down into the batter as the pear cake bakes. Place the sliced pears in a bowl of water with two tablespoons of lemon juice to prevent them from going brown.

For the batter, you will need self-raising flour (or plain flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder), milk, egg, sugar, 1/2 a teaspoon of salt and some double or whipping cream.

Place all the ingredients except the cream in a mixing bowl and whisk with a balloon whisk to remove any lumps (images 1 and 2 above).

Whisk the cream until soft peaks form, then add to the batter and whisk through to combine thoroughly (images 3 and 4 above).

Once the batter has been mixed, pour it into a well-greased 9″ diameter springform cake pan, or an 8″ x 8″ square cake pan, and arrange the sliced pears on top (images 1 and 3 above).

Bake in a pre-heated oven (180C/350F) for 25 minutes until the cake is brown on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out cleanly (images (2 and 4 above).

You will find that most of the pears will sink down into the cake during baking. This is normal, and to be expected.

Sprinkle the baked cake with icing sugar (or confectioner’s sugar) once it has been removed from the oven and cooled.

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How do I serve pear cream slice?

This pear cake is delicious either served plain or sprinkled with icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar).

If you would like to turn it into a dessert, add either a spoonful of whipped cream. ice cream or a drizzle of custard.

Tips for using pears

Choose pears that are ripe, and have a slight ‘give’ when you press them with your fingers. There is no need to cook the pears before using them in this cake.

Bartlett pears or Conference pears are ideal for this dish.

If your pears are slightly under-ripe, place them in a brown paper bag at room temperature to ripen them before using.

When you have peeled and sliced the pears, place them in water with a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice until you are ready to add them to the cake. This will prevent them from turning brown. (If you look closely at some of the process images in this post, you will see I omitted this step 🙂 )

Can I make a pear cream slice in advance?

Stored in the refrigerator, this cake will remain fresh for up to 5 days. So you can make it ahead of time. Store it in the baking pan, covered with a layer of tinfoil, in the refrigerator.

You will find that the texture will change slightly, as the pears will release some moisture and make the cake even moister.

Don’t sprinkle with icing sugar if you intend to store it for later use as the moisture will cause the icing sugar to melt into the cake.

When you are ready to eat the pear cake, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. Then sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Additional resources

Don’t forget to check out my handy Cookery Conversion Calculator if you want to convert any of your recipe measurements from grams to cups, ounces, tablespoons or millilitres and vice versa. You can also use the calculator for converting oven temperatures between Fahrenheit, Celsius and Gas marks.

If you live at a high altitude you may find you need to adjust your baking recipes to compensate for this. You can read all about it in this post on baking at high altitudes.