Praise the Cake

Some days nothing seems to work out the way you planned. With food, however, different can be surprisingly pleasant. And today it worked out to become the highest-praised cake I have made so far. It was described as an adventure through all the different tastes and textures. It has fresh cranberry's and pear, toasted walnuts (from our own tree!) and a nice tang made by adding some orange zest. The balance of things is just great. A soft and moist cake, with a slightly crunchy top, and the cranberry's and nuts each adding their own flavours to chew on. Deffinately a keeper!

As to the mistake I spoke about: Double the amounts in the recipe were supposed to be baked in a 9" x 13" baking pan. So I recalculated it to fit a 20 cm round springform. Which is, as we all know, 4 forms of 10 cm. So then, how would that fit if you only have two, like I do? It does, but just. But the result is even better.

Orange infused Cranberry and Pear-cake

60 g all-purpose flour
60 g whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
130 g brown sugar
55 g butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 Tbsp orange zest, fresh if possible, really
1 pear, corned and thinly sliced
100 g cranberry's, fresh or frozen, roughly chopped
35 g chopped walnuts, toasted


Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease the forms and cover the bottom with baking paper, if you have it.

Sift the all-purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, and whisk it together with the whole wheat.
In another bowl, whisk together sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and zest.
Add flour mixture and stir just until combined. Gently fold in pears, cranberries and walnuts (As far as you can possibly be gentle with a batter this thick! Don't worry, it will be fine. Just be carefull not to overmix.)

Scoop the mixture into the forms, and smooth the top. Bake until a toothpick comes out mostly clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Leave it for 15 minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool.

Should serve 8, but that's without people taking second's (and third's...)