Sometimes the best things just come out of thin air! This recipe was my own creation, improvising based on what I needed to use up in the kitchen, but it was a definite hit with my family! It’s also quite a bit healthier than most cakes or coffee cakes, but shhh, don’t tell them that. It would work with other combinations of fruit too. If you choose to use apples or something else much firmer than pears, I’d recommend steaming them for about 10 minutes before baking to be sure they come out soft enough. As always, if you don’t need this to be gluten-free, just substitute all-purpose flour for the gluten-free flour mix, and leave out the xanthan gum.
Ingredients
- 2 ripe medium pears, cored and peeled, chopped small (about 2 cups)
- 1 cup raspberries (frozen is fine)
- 1/3 cup + 1/2 cup sugar (separate measurements)
- 1 3/4 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix or other gluten-free flour mix
- 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
- 1 dash of nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (or less, definitely not more)
- 1 egg
- 1 mashed ripe banana
- 1/4 cup milk
- 4 oz (1 single-serve cup) plain applesauce
Equipment
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- Bundt pan or other cake pan
- Mixing bowls – 1 medium + 1 large
Directions
- Peel and core the pears. Chop them into small pieces (about 1/2 inch or less).
- In medium mixing bowl, combine pears and raspberries and 1/3 cup sugar. Stir, then set aside.
- In large mixing bowl, blend gluten-free flour mix, 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and xanthan gum.
- Add all remaining ingredients except fruit, blending as you go.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the pan.
- Pour about half of the dough into the pan. Add the fruit using a slotted spoon to drain out the juice. You don’t need that extra moisture! Pour remaining dough over the top. You could also choose to mix the fruit (minus the juice) into the dough and pour the whole mixture into the pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for about 38-45 minutes until done.
- You could top this with a glaze from the fruit’s juice or powdered sugar, but we found it to be sweet and moist enough on its own. It is tasty with vanilla ice cream, though!
Source
My own creation.