Sticky pear & ginger cake

This is a cross between a sticky toffee pudding and a ginger cake. Serve warm with ice cream or cream as a dessert

Recipe uploaded by

Sara Buenfeld

25 ratings 5

Recipe by Sara Buenfeld

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Tested

Difficulty and servings

Serves 8 - 10

Preparation and cooking times

Prep 1 hr 10 mins

Cook 1 hr 20 mins

Put the chopped dates in a pan with the milk, butter, ginger preserve and dark muscovado. Heat gently until the butter has melted and the mixture starts to bubble round the edges of the pan. Stir well and set aside for 1 hr to cool.
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line the base of a buttered 23cm springform tin with baking parchment. Peel and chop the pears into large chunks. Mix the flour, chopped pecans and bicarb with the spices, then stir into the cooled date mixture with the eggs. Pour into the tin and scatter over the pears. Roughly break the reserved pecans and drop on top. Bake for 40 mins, then cover the top loosely with foil and return to the oven for 25-30 mins more until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with just sticky crumbs - the cake may still look a little wet around the pears.
While the cake is baking, make the brandy syrup. Tip the light muscovado sugar into a pan with 50ml water and dissolve over a low heat until syrupy. Stir in the brandy and set aside. When the cake is ready, spoon over half the syrup, then leave the cake to cool before serving with extra syrup on the side.
To freeze, cool the cake in its tin, then wrap well and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost and warm through in a low oven. The syrup can be frozen separately, warmed, then drizzled over as before.

Per serving

521 kcalories, protein 7g, carbohydrate 89g, fat 13 g, saturated fat 3g, fibre 3g, sugar 72g, salt 0.64 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2010.

Latest comments and suggestions

Results 21-35

Jo Ryan

30 October 2011

Jo Ryan commented on this recipe

Delish!! didn't wait the whole hour to cool toffee mix, (it's cake afterall, who can wait!) no detrement affects, mixed the pear chunks in as opposed to 'dropping' them in, I feel the it made the cake even juicier and more moist. Served warm with extra thick cream - heavenly!!

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jessicah

10 November 2011

jessicah rated and commented on this recipe

totally yummy cake and turned out so moist.

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Mary Chappell

22 November 2011

Mary Chappell rated and commented on this recipe

Loved this cake/pudd, when serving as a cake I would omit the sugar & brandy sauce as it goes a bit too moist.

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Loubob

23 November 2011

Loubob rated and commented on this recipe

I didn't have enough dates, so supplemented them with some dried pears that I had. Not sure this worked though as it didn't turn out that sticky, and I think the middle wasn't cooked through even though I baked it longer. The syrup is well boozy, so much so you can't taste the spices in the cake! Other than that it really wasn't difficult to make!

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Kate

27 January 2012

Kate commented on this recipe

love it!! have made again and again

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BlueJ

28 February 2012

BlueJ rated and commented on this recipe

Really loved this cake. Enjoyed it both warm and cold. It was so moist and kept really well. I had a little of the brandy syrup left over after we had finished the cake - so would probably make a little less syrup next time. Definitely 5 stars though!!

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Flour Covered Girl

09 July 2012

Flour Covered Girl rated and commented on this recipe

I hate to go against the masses, however I really didn't like this cake. It remained wet, despite cooking it for the time stated, and then leaving it in the oven for a while longer to try and dry it out. The flavour was just too strong, and it could have benefitted from more nuts mixed in, and the pears cut smaller, and putting half actually in the cake mix, and then maybe thin slices for decoration on the top. I also think that rum would have been a better match for the syrup, however it was superfluous as the cake without was plenty sweet enough.

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Flour Covered Girl

09 July 2012

Flour Covered Girl commented on this recipe

I hate to go against the masses, however I really didn't like this cake. It remained wet, despite cooking it for the time stated, and then leaving it in the oven for a while longer to try and dry it out. The flavour was just too strong, and it could have benefitted from more nuts mixed in, and the pears cut smaller, and putting half actually in the cake mix, and then maybe thin slices for decoration on the top. I also think that rum would have been a better match for the syrup, however it was superfluous as the cake without was plenty sweet enough.

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annÃ¡cska

28 September 2012

annÃ¡cska rated and commented on this recipe

A perfect cake! For any occasion. Easy and delicious. Will make it often, maybe I'll try it with apples or quinces (blanched first) also.Thanks.

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Maria Budgen

07 October 2012

Maria Budgen rated and commented on this recipe

Excellent pud/cake. Ate it warm with ice cream, and then finished off as cake. Was short of milk, so used half water, which worked fine. Also only had walnuts not pecans, and omitted the mixed spice as not keen on that, and it still had good falvour. Given comments above, I only made half the brandy syrup, and then just used half of that over the cake when it came out the oven, so it didn't turn out too wet. Cooking wise, I just gave it an extra 10mins and then it was perfect so no issues at all with cake being soggy. Will definitely make again as its a nice straightforward recipe to impress friends with!

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Lola_Balola

02 November 2012

Lola_Balola rated and commented on this recipe

This is alright, cooked for a very long time but still wet in the middle. Tasted pretty good when eaten hot as a pudding but having seconds once it had cooled was not so enjoyable.

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roxy

12 November 2012

roxy rated and commented on this recipe

A good cake, nice winter pudding texture, but not exceptional, flavours just ok. Maybe my expectations were too high, or omitting the syrup at the end was a mistake.

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StoneFruit

19 January 2013

StoneFruit rated this recipe

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caroline

22 February 2013

caroline rated and commented on this recipe

This is a great recipe. However I did grease the sides of the tin as well. I don't know whether this was necessary: it was certainly easy to turn out!

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Deb

18 March 2013

Deb rated and commented on this recipe

Superb - everyone raved over it - I rounded the ginger preserve up to 200gm and increased the mixed spice to 1 tsp - will definitely make this one again

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