Pear-Cardamom Cake ~#TheCakeSliceBakers

This amazing pear-studded cake is flavored with the warmth of candied ginger and cardamom

and just makes you want to sit down by the fireside with a slice of cake and a hot cup of tea or coffee.

Hazelnut, Asian Pear & Espresso Cake ~ #TheCakeSliceBakers

"One of the great things about being a grown up is eating cake

for breakfast and not having to ask for permission" author unknown

Pear Honey Rosemary Bundt Cake ~ #BundtBakers

Pear, honey, and rosemary are just flavors that work together so well.  

Do yourself a favor and make this bundt, you will be so happy that you did.

London Fog and Pear Bundt Cake ~ #BundtBakers

I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering how it is already the middle of November.  Seriously, where did the year go?  Fortunately there is always something to look forward to with the #BundtBakers, and our theme for November is pear.

Apple, Pear & Honey Cider Bundt Cake ~ #BundtBakers

Happy Fall, Y'all, that is the theme for this months #BundtBakers.  Fall, that magical time of year where the days start to get a little colder, the leaves turn to brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow, and the Pumpkin Spice Latte is back.  The only one of these things that happens here in Hawaii is that yes indeed, Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back.

Spiced Pear-Cranberry Crumb Bars

I was trying to find something in my freezer this morning, and did a double-take when I realized how many bags of cranberries I still had leftover from last holiday season.  Since cranberry season is almost upon us it is definitely time for me to use up this supply so that I will have room for the next time I purchase excessive amounts of them - and I will because I have this overwhelming sense of fear that I will run out.

As luck would have it Chocolate, Chocolate, & More just happened to post a recipe link from Imperfect & Fabulous on Facebook recently that I thought would work perfectly with the addition of cranberries. I just love the tart-sweet combination of pears and cranberries.  Actually I am just a big fan of cranberries in general.

As I was making the filling the house began to smell like Thanksgiving, which was just fine with me since it is my favorite holiday of the year.  I didn't grow up celebrating Thanksgiving, and if we did it would have taken place around April/May since that is Fall for us. I celebrated it for the first time when I moved to Canada, and from that moment on I knew it would become a tradition no matter where I was living.

Papaya-Pear Sour Cream Muffin Cakes

Don't muffin cakes sound great? A muffin and a cake in one bite.  I went looking for a recipe for basic muffin that contained sour cream and I found this recipe at the Big Red Kitchen.  I like to use sour cream in muffins because it makes them so moist.  I still had a pear left over from last nights soup and a rapidly ripening papaya so I decided that they would make a nice addition to the muffins.

These muffins were so quick and easy to put together.  They barely took 30 minutes from start to finish.  You have to love a recipe like that.  We barely waited for them to cool before peeling the liners off so that we could try them with our coffee.  You could still see the little pieces of pear but the papaya melted into the batter to provide just the right amount of sweetness.  It made me glad that I had cut the sugar by half from the original recipe.

Papaya-Pear Sour Cream Muffin Cakes
(Printer Friendly Recipe)
 
Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups AP flour
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• ½ cup finely diced pear
• ½ cup finely diced papaya
• 2 teaspoons raw sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a large mixing bowl add flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and mix until combined.
3. In a medium bowl combine eggs, vanilla, sour cream and mix until well blended.
4. Add pear and papaya to the egg mixture.
5. Add egg
6. Sprinkle with raw sugar before baking.
7. Pour 1/3 cup into a standard paper muffin liners in a muffin pan and bake for about 20 minutes.
8. Makes about 12-14 muffins.

Adapted from a recipe on Big Red Kitchen.