When the first properly cold day of November arrives, I find myself reaching for warming spices and seasonal fruit. This spiced pear and ginger loaf is my answer to those chilly afternoons — the kind of cake that fills the kitchen with the most incredible aroma while it bakes. I picked up a bag of Conference pears from the greengrocer last week, and they were absolutely perfect for this.
The combination of stem ginger and ground spices gives this loaf a gentle warmth without being overpowering, while the chunks of pear keep everything beautifully moist for days.
Ingredients
- 225g self-raising flour
- 1½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp mixed spice
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 175g light muscovado sugar
- 150g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tbsp milk
- 3 balls stem ginger from a jar, finely chopped, plus 2 tbsp syrup from the jar
- 2 ripe Conference pears, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks
- Demerara sugar for sprinkling
Method
- Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan). Grease and line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment.
- Sift the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, mixed spice and nutmeg into a large bowl. Stir in the muscovado sugar, breaking up any lumps with your fingers.
- In a jug, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, milk, and ginger syrup. Pour this into the dry ingredients and fold together until just combined.
- Fold in the chopped stem ginger and about two-thirds of the pear chunks.
- Pour into the prepared tin, scatter the remaining pear pieces on top, and sprinkle generously with demerara sugar.
- Bake for 55–65 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. The top should be deeply golden and cracked.
- Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
This cake actually improves over a day or two as the flavours meld together. Wrap it well in foil and it’ll keep happily for up to five days — though in my experience it rarely lasts that long.
