Flying Cake!

Happy Thanksgiving! Well, in addition to the orange cranberry pound cake I took with me to Chattanooga this year, I also made a pear cake. I somehow still had leftover pears after making the warm pear ginger upside down cake and the jack quesadillas with pear salsa... and I didn't want them to spoil while we were away for the holiday... so I decided to use them up by baking something else for Thanksgiving.

Again, I was presented with the dilemma of creating something that would fly well. Then the idea came to me to make the apple cake from Kayte's blog, but to use pears instead. I had been wanting to try that recipe ever since I made the other apple cake recipe, and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity.


This cake was very moist, and the spices complemented the pears well. It's hard for me to say which apple cake recipe is better, as both are good, but they're different. I think I might like the other one a little better... the cinnamon flavor in the other recipe is more prominent (which I like), but it's also more fattening with a whopping 3 sticks of butter in the recipe!

The original recipe also calls for a brown sugar frosting, but I simply topped this cake with some powdered sugar and served it with some homemade whipped cream :)

Both the orange cranberry pound cake and the pear cake were a big hit at our Thanksgiving feast... everyone was impressed that I traveled with these cakes, and they were dubbed the "flying cakes."

*Humorous Update (11/25/07): my sister-in-law, Holly, and her boyfriend, James, were visiting the sculpture garden in downtown Chattanooga when they came across these "flying naked people" as James put it. It was then that he had the awesome inspiration of the flying people carrying flying cakes! So, they snapped a photo and with it he photoshopped the sculpture and cake into this funny image :)


Image courtesy of James :)

Apple (Pear) Cake
from Culinate


2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp each of ground cloves and ground nutmeg
1/2 cup soft unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4 cups peeled and finely chopped apples (I used pears)
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts (I omitted these)

Preheat oven to 325F. Butter and flour a 13x9 inch baking pan (or a Bundt pan)

In a large bowl mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and ground spices. In a mixer bowl, or with an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix for another minute, until the eggs are blended into the butter and sugar. Reduce the speed to low, and add the flour mixture - a third at a time - just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. The batter will be very thick and stuff.

Fold in the apples and nuts and stir just enough to evenly distribute the apples and nuts through the batter.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, and with a spatula smooth the surface, pushing the batter into the corners of the pan. Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, checking the cake at 40 minutes with a toothpick. When the top of the cake is firm and in inserted toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. Cool on a wire rack.


*Note: If using a Bundt pan, cool the cake for 10-15 minutes and then invert onto a plate or serving platter.