Pear Almond Cake to celebrate my 40th birthday
Yesterday I turned 40. I barely had the time to bake myself a cake, in between skype calls, deadlines, and the first meeting at Livia’s nursery school (how is it possible she is already going to school?). So, I’m sharing this post today, the traditional post with the cake I choose to celebrate my birthday. It is a tradition, a milestone, a way to freeze a memory in time, just like snapping a picture.
We will celebrate tonight with a dinner Tommaso orchestrated in a secret place: I’m just required to be ready and well-dressed by 7.30pm. Livia will have dinner with her nonni, and we’ll have the second night out since she was born, 11 months ago.
On this day, I also want to write down what I like now, what makes my heart flutter. No space for fears or regrets today. It is time to celebrate, make memories that will last, have good food – possibly cooked by someone else -, wear red lipstick and a headband to tame my short curls.
What I like
- Making Livia smile. All of a sudden, she drops her pacifier and her face opens up in a beam.
- Movie nights cuddled on the sofa with Tommaso and a sleeping Livia, Teo tucked under our feet, Noa sprawled in the middle of the living room taking as much space as she can.
- Walking in the early morning along my country road, listening to podcasts.
- Swimming – when swimming pools will open again.
- Reading, especially during the summer and during the Christmas holidays.
- Improvising a meal with what is ripe in the vegetable garden, but also shopping with a purpose to make a recipe I carefully selected from a trustworthy cookbook.
- Autumn, always and forever, but also stormy weather during the summer, crisp, sunny winter days, the first warm Spring days.
- Learning new things: techniques, approaches to food and cooking, stories behind a recipe.
- Rhubarb, fried eggplants, sushi, making fresh pasta, stirring a risotto, kneading sourdough bread, preserving fruits and vegetables, pickling, making nocino and limoncello. I like toasted bread with butter and jam, pasta al pesto, eggplant parmigiana, shrimp tartare and beef tartare, oysters, and pappa al pomodoro.
What I finally understood at 40 years old is that my favourite cakes are bursting with seasonal fruit, have a rustic texture, and possibly some nuts, and they should come up together in a single bowl. I like crostate and fruit pies, rich traditional breads like pan co’ santi or pan di ramerino, apple cakes and carrot cakes. At 40, I’m ready to give up chocolate for a slice of almond pear cake.
Pear Almond Cake
Here’s the cake I baked to celebrate my 40th birthday. It has everything I love in a cake: it is bursting with fruit, – I chose summer baby pears -, it has a rustic texture given by almond flour and almond flakes, and a subtle lemon scent. And according to Niki Segnit, in her The flavour thesaurus, pear and almond are a natural couple: classy and restrained.
You can easily make this pear almond cake in one bowl, once you have poached the pears in syrup (an extra step that is totally worth it).
I didn’t use spices this time, but you could try with cinnamon, cardamom, or star anise. If you like a crunchy texture, try adding some coarsely chopped walnuts or hazelnuts, or the evergreen chocolate chips.
Pear Almond Cake
Ingredients
- 4 medium eggs
- 150 grams sugar
- 80 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 50 ml whole milk
- 200 grams almond flour
- 100 grams all-purpose flour
- 8 grams baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- Butter to grease the cake mould
- 2 tablespoon almond flakes
For the baby pears in syrup
- 6 baby pears, or 3 regular pears
- 800 ml water
- 200 grams sugar
- 1 lemon
Instructions
The day before, prepare the baby pears in syrup.
- Collect the water, sugar, and lemon zest in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- In the meantime, peel the pears and set them aside.
- When the sugar is completely melted into the water, and the syrup is lightly boiling, add the baby pears, squeeze the lemon into the syrup, and reduce to a simmer.
- Simmer the pears on medium-low flame, covered, for about 30 minutes. When you can easily pierce them with a knife, they are done. Let them cool down into the syrup.
Now prepare the cake.
- Preheat oven to 175°C / 350°F.
- Whip eggs and sugar until light and foamy. Whisk in the extra virgin olive oil and the milk, then fold in the almond flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Remove the pears from the syrup. Set 4 pears aside, and cut open the remaining two. Remove the core, cube them, and gently fold them into the cake batter.
- Grease a 26 cm round cake mould with a knob of butter and dust it with flour. Scrape the batter into the cake mould and smooth the surface with a spatula.
- Slice in half the pears you put aside and remove the core with a teaspoon. Put the pear cut side down on a cutting board, slice it lengthways, and then fan it out.
- Arrange the sliced pears on top of the cake, then scatter the surface with the almond flakes.
- Bake the cake in a hot oven for about 45-50 minutes, checking if the cake is done with a toothpick: when you insert it in the centre of the cake, it should come out clean.
- Once ready, remove the cake from the oven, allow it a few minutes to cool down on a wire rack, remove it from the cake mould, and place it onto a plate.
- It keeps well for a few days at room temperature.
Cooking with an Italian Accent. The Second Season is here.
We worked on four special episodes for the summer, with guests from all over Italy engaged in conversation about some of our favourite themes, from food to tourism, from cookbooks to personal memories. Each episode will give you the chance to explore an Italian region and will give you tips on how to travel more sustainably to some of the most iconic Italian destinations.
In the first episode, I switched roles and asked our friend Valentina Dainelli, known online as Toomuchtuscany, to be the host of this conversation: I felt it would have been much more interesting for you than listening to a soliloquy.
The occasion is my 40th birthday. We had a little online celebration, and we talked about recipes and cakes, about Livia, about our job. There’s also a little anticipation about the cookbook we’re working on at the moment. Then, we moved to talk about Tuscany and sustainable tourism. I’m sharing my favourite destinations for a quick trip, and a few tips to better enjoy Tuscany.
So, join the conversation, and the celebrations! You can listen to the first episode here.
Comments (6)
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Dear Giulia, best wishes on your jubilee! I love your hairstyle like that, it looks so lovely! Kids do grow fast. My son is almost 29, and it seems like yesterday he was like your Livia. ?
I love baking almond flour cakes with the seasonal fruit. I will give your birthday cake a try and report back. I have all of the ingredients already.
I will admit that I used only 100 grams of sugar, as my fruit was very sweet. This is my kind of cake. It can be eaten any time of day, even breakfast. Tasty, moist, tender, and at the same time it has a strength from the almond flour. A few of my pears were too mushy to use, so I had to improvise and add some ripe peaches in addition to a lonely pear I could actually use. I love-love forgiving recipes that can be easily adapted. I am adding this recipe to my repertoire. Thank you!
Many happy returns of the day!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! It sounds amazing! Pears and almonds, 2 of my favourite things.
I am going to make this very soon.
By the way, have you tried pear jam?
It’s very delicious . Good for winter gifts, reminds us of the beauty and gifts of summer!
thank you so much Reshma! yes, I love pear jam, I usually add rosemary flowers to it!
Made for the 2nd time. Delicious!!! Thank you for this recipe. Adding it to my collection.
oh, thank you!! so happy you liked it (twice!)