Recipe: Gail Simmons’ Pear Tart (Cake)
Summary: A simple but elegant pear cake that can be dessert or a comforting breakfast treat. Substitute peaches, plums or apples if you like!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened, unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pan
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (this is my addition)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 pound pears (Concorde or Anjou), (I used 1 ½ pounds pears)
- Juice of ½ lemon, divided (I used a Meyer lemon)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Butter a 9-inch springform pan. (Dorothy’s tip: use the wrapper from the stick of butter. Clever, no?)
- With an electric mixer, cream ½ cup butter and 1 cup sugar on medium until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, then baking powder, salt, vanilla, and nutmeg (if using).
- Beat in flour on low until batter just comes together. Spread in pan (DR’s note: a small offset spatula works well for this). Place in refrigerator and chill for at least 20 minutes.
- Heat oven to 375°F.
- While crust is chilling, core and slice pears into 1/2-inch slices. (DR’s note: I peeled them, too, but suit yourself.) Toss them with half the lemon juice, so they don’t turn brown. Set aside to wait for crust to finish chilling.
- Remove crust from refrigerator, and arrange pears in tight concentric circles on top of dough. Squeeze remaining lemon juice evenly over pears.
- In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons sugar (DR’s note: I used 3 tablespoons large sugar crystals – washed raw sugar crystals) with cinnamon. Sprinkle over pears. Bake for 45-55 minutes (mine took 55 minutes) or until edges are golden and center is set. It will puff up quite a bit in the oven, but settle back down as it cools.
- Cool tart in pan for 10 minutes. Run a sharp knife around edge. Remove sides of pan.
- Serves 8.
Quick notes
Dorothy’s tips:
–I have taken the liberty of rewording some of the directions to make them even easier, and to dirty fewer bowls. If you like, you can see the original recipe here [1].
–You can use this as a coffee cake for breakfast, if you like! Not that I would ever do that. Oh no.
–I would not hesitate to sprinkle some chopped pecans overtop, for a change
–If I were to use any stone fruit with this (peaches, plums), I would not hesitate to add ½ teaspoon almond extract to the crust.
–Next time I might try using a 10-inch springform pan, which would make the fruit-to-crust ratio higher, which I like. We shall see.
Gail’s tips:
–Try serving this with softened vanilla or cinnamon ice cream, or with cinnamon whipped cream. To make the latter, whip some heavy cream with a pinch of cinnamon.
–You can serve the tart warm or at room temperature.
–Wrap in plastic and keep overnight at room temp. Or refrigerate for longer storage.
[2]Source: From the book “Talking With My Mouth Full: My Life as a Professional Eater,” by Gail Simmons; Hyperion; $26.99
Nutrition
Serves: 8. Per Serving: 320 calories, 50g carbs, 4g protein, 13g fat, 75mg cholesterol, 100mg sodium, 2g fiber
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 55 minutes
Diet type: Vegetarian
Number of servings (yield): 8
Culinary tradition: USA (Traditional)