Monday, November 8, 2010

Swedish Pear & Almond Cream Cake Rerun

When I saw that this weeks project with the Heavenly Cake Bakers was the Swedish Pear & Almond Cream Cake that I did in error on May 31th I was glad. Since this is a wonderful multi-purpose cake as is I couldn't help but wonder how it would taste if I changed the fruit. Having this opportunity to bake it again I thought instead of pears I would try apples. This recipe is set up in the usual easy to follow multi component format that I love so much. So let us get going.
The first component to prepare is the almond cream. Almond cream is one of those mixtures that can and should be tried out different ways. I use it as a middle layer in apple, pear, and blueberry tarts or tartlets, as a spread on brioche (just spread and brown under a broiler), and now as a component of a "coffee" cake. It is simply a mixture of almond paste, sugar, butter, flour (or cornstarch), egg, and vanilla (of course). All ingredients go together quickly in a food processor and can be frozen (up to a month) for later use or stored in the refrigerator for 1 week.
The next component to prepare is the batter. This batter contains sour cream (ooooh the promise of a creamy smooth batter), cake flour (ahhh, delicate crumb), butter, sugar, vanilla, egg, and the leavenings. And lets not forget the pears (or shall I say apples in this run) sliced thinly and sprinkled with lemon juice.
The batter is spread in a greased and floured bundt pan. A 1/2" depression is made around the middle of the batter where the almond paste is spooned. Top the with the thinly sliced pears or apples and it is ready to bake.
There is two things I learned from this rerun. The first is that while some batches of cakes or cookies can be cut in half and baked in smaller pans, this is not one of them. Although the finished cake was still delicate, light, small crumb and wonderful in its vanilla-apple flavor, I was left with the desire for more. More cake that is- the piece was just too short! Therefore, I would not reccomend cutting the batch size but rather go for a SLIGHTLY smaller pan for a higher cake. The other thing I learned was- pears or apples this is a wonderful addition to anyones favorites list.
Hope you enjoyed!
P.S.- I would also consider some cinnamon if I was to do the apple again :)

6 comments:

Vicki said...

I'm so glad you made it again with apples! It's such a great cake I was wondering how it would be with different fruit. Thanks for letting us know.

Unknown said...

I'm going to go with the idea of taking the whole fruit out and doubling the almond cream!

Mendy said...

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Interesting! Good to know it works and the cinnamon addition sounds nice. Monica's suggestion sounds good too!

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

I was wondering how this cake would be if made with apples instead of pears. Glad to hear you liked it.

:)
ButterYu

Andrea said...

It's good to hear this works well with apples. I like the idea of adding cinnamon.

Alpha Baker Joan said...

yes, i would call it a multi-purpose cake as well. I think a little almond extract would enhance.