Gâteau Fondant Aux Poires

I've been wanting to make this dessert for a while. I was shocked at how easy it was to put together, and I adore the taste. It's not an overly sweet cake, which is what I love the most about it. You can taste the pears and then just a hint of lemon; too much sweetness would cloud the tartness of lemon and pear.

I found the recipe on this website: mykitchenintherockies.com.

Here are the ingredients as per the website.

• 3-4 small ripe pears, peeled and quartered or cubed
• 1 cup 1½ Tablespoons (250 g) butter, at room temperature
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1¼ cup (250 g) sugar (Kirsten used 200 g)
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups 1½ tablespoons (250 g) flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt

Combine your butter and sugar in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until nice and fluffy. Add the four eggs (one at a time) and slowly blend it together. Next add your vanilla and lemon zest. In a separate bowl sift together your flour, salt, and baking powder. Slowly add that to your wet ingrdients until fully combined. You do not want to over mix this.

Next, get a spring form pan and oil the bottom and sides. Take half your batter and spread it across the bottom of the pan. Take your diced pears and spread that over your batter. Take the other half of your batter and spread over the pears.

Make sure your oven is pre-heated to 350°. Cook for about an hour.

Let the cake cool down and top with powdered sugar.  The outside will be slightly crispy and the inside will be soft and almost custardy in the middle. P.S. I know custardy is not a word, but it fits. I just think it's all yummy.

This is my Basset Hound Milo. He's not as excited about this cake as I am. He's probably jealous, or he's just annoyed by the fact that I haven't given him any peanut butter in months.