I discovered two pears in the ‘fridge the other day and sought to use them before, you know, they become part of a compost heap. Also, had a partially consumed container of mascarpone, so this recipe seemed meant to be. 

My only criticism of this particular pear cake was that it baked up very dry. Maybe I overbaked. It just didn’t seem right to toss the cake that I made with the purpose of eliminating wasted fruit, so I needed to figure out a fix.  

I had a half-bottle of Ipsus Passito di Pantelleria Dessert Wine waiting to be finished. Using a skewer, I poured the dessert wine onto the cake which not only moistened it, but gave it a great flavor as well.  Cutting down on food waste is a personal goal in this house, and if dessert helps us cut out the waste, well, that’s a good thing, right? 

Easy Italian Pear Cake from An Italian in My Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup + 1-1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 34 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup mascarpone
• 2-1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil (coconut or olive oil are my choices here)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 pears

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 340 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour and 9-inch cake pan (author used a springform pan).
2. Clean and peel the pears, chop one pear into medium-sized cubes and the other pear into thin slices. Set aside.
3. In medium bowl (I used my stand mixer), at medium speed beat eggs and sugar until creamy; add mascarpone and continue beating until smooth.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
5. STIR the flour into the egg mixture by hand (wood spoon) to combine gnetly, then add oil and stir to combine.
6. Fold in the pear cubes, spoon into prepared cake pan.
7. Top the batter with sliced pears and sprinkle 2 TBS sugar on top.
8. Bake approximately 45-60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.