Autumnal Pear Bread
24 October 2025 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeI have now made this recipe twice, with pleasing results each time, so I feel that it is clearly a keeper (which should probably be pasted into my recipe book, but that means writing it out again into a smaller block that will fit an available hole in the scrapbook...)
https://www.eurosparni.co.uk/recipes/dessert/autumnal-pear-bread/
It only requires a small number of pears, even when they are little windfall ones that are far smaller than the shop-bought giants, so isn't a terribly good way of getting rid of a glut of fruit, but since I only have a single 1lb loaf tin I halved it on the first occasion to save on the other ingredients.
This time round I did full quantities (substituting half margarine for the butter) and split the mixture between the 1lb loaf tin and the 2lb loaf tin. The first one, as previously, cooked perfectly in the appointed time. The larger loaf burnt on top before it was cooked, even though I hadn't put the full amount in the tin, and I had to cover it with brown paper; the cooking time should probably be increased to an hour for a larger tin, and the temperature possibly a little lower as well. But I shall probably write down the half-quantity ingredients, both for ease of baking and for economy.
One could probably adapt the recipe to use other fruit along with other spices; I note that the nutmeg specified in the first stage of the recipe is not actually mentioned in the list of ingredients here, although it's a fairly vital element in the flavour of the finished cake! I grated about a quarter of a nutmeg into the mixture; maybe a teaspoon or so? Certainly one could do a similar cake with windfall apples and cinnamon, say, although plums might not work so well and quinces would probably be too hard.
Edit: I have just noticed that the ingredients list *does* mention cinnamon -- so when they say "nutmeg" in the directions, they probably meant cinnamon! But I preferred it with the rather larger quantity of nutmeg instead, at least in combination with pears.
https://www.eurosparni.co.uk/recipes/dessert/autumnal-pear-bread/
It only requires a small number of pears, even when they are little windfall ones that are far smaller than the shop-bought giants, so isn't a terribly good way of getting rid of a glut of fruit, but since I only have a single 1lb loaf tin I halved it on the first occasion to save on the other ingredients.
This time round I did full quantities (substituting half margarine for the butter) and split the mixture between the 1lb loaf tin and the 2lb loaf tin. The first one, as previously, cooked perfectly in the appointed time. The larger loaf burnt on top before it was cooked, even though I hadn't put the full amount in the tin, and I had to cover it with brown paper; the cooking time should probably be increased to an hour for a larger tin, and the temperature possibly a little lower as well. But I shall probably write down the half-quantity ingredients, both for ease of baking and for economy.
One could probably adapt the recipe to use other fruit along with other spices; I note that the nutmeg specified in the first stage of the recipe is not actually mentioned in the list of ingredients here, although it's a fairly vital element in the flavour of the finished cake! I grated about a quarter of a nutmeg into the mixture; maybe a teaspoon or so? Certainly one could do a similar cake with windfall apples and cinnamon, say, although plums might not work so well and quinces would probably be too hard.
Edit: I have just noticed that the ingredients list *does* mention cinnamon -- so when they say "nutmeg" in the directions, they probably meant cinnamon! But I preferred it with the rather larger quantity of nutmeg instead, at least in combination with pears.