This aromatic cake gives tea time a little lift with its sticky fruit topping and lighter sponge. Deceptively easy to make and a real centrepiece.

Serves: 8-10

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time:  30-35 minutes

 

You’ll need:

5 juniper berries, bruised with the back of a knife

1 tsp ground cinnamon

5 cloves

4 tbsp Streamline apricot jam

3-4 pears depending on their size, peeled cored & sliced (we used Blush pears)

150g unsalted butter

150g caster sugar

3 medium eggs

100g self-raising flour

100g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

crème fraîche to serve

 

What to do:

Heat the oven to 180C/ 160C fan/ gas 4. Grease the bottom of a 9 inch spring form tin and line with greaseproof paper. Heat the juniper, cinnamon and cloves with the apricot jam in a pan then add the pear slices and cook gently for 5 minutes until they are soft. Set aside to cool.

Whisk together the butter and sugar till light and fluffy, then whisk in the eggs one at a time. Use a large metal spoon to fold in the almonds, flour and baking powder.

Pick the spices out of the pear juices and discard. Arrange the pear slices in the bottom of the tin along with just 2 tablespoons of the juices. Pour over the cake batter and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until cooked through and the cake springs back when you touch the top.

Take out of the oven and cool for 15 minutes then turn out onto a serving plate and peel off the greaseproof paper. Reheat the remaining pear juices and drizzle over. Serve warm or cold with a dollop of crème fraîche.

Note: Cook the pears gently so they don’t break up and adjust the cooking time depending on their ripeness.

 

Submitted by www.streamlinefoods.co.uk