Easy Gingered Pear Almond Honey Cakes for Bonfire Night
Autumn pears, fragrant honey and warming ginger come together for an easy bonfire night bake. These gingered pear almond honey cakes are not only delicious, but are easily portable. They’re the perfect antidote to overhyped Halloween and its transatlantic excesses. They can be eaten whilst watching the bonfire flames dance and the Catherine wheels spin – no tricks, just treats.
These almond honey cakes came about as a result of a failed attempt at making almond nut butter. I will be posting about this and its serendipitous love child later this month. Suffice it to say, the end result was totally worth it. I used some of my nut butter to make these cakes, but have given a slightly easier method here so you don’t have to make my version of nut butter first. I was putting my new Optimum G2.3 platinum series induction blender through its paces, but my trusty Optimum 9200A would have worked equally well.
The cakes, whilst not entirely sugar free, are made with a modest amount of honey and a small addition of crystallised ginger. As well as being low in sugar, they are low in fat too with only one tablespoon of coconut oil. The pears helped to sweeten the cakes, as well as giving them a nice texture. Almonds are always a good addition to a cake in my book. A little warming ginger combines beautifully with the other flavours and keeps the cockles of the heart glowing in the cold night air.
- 75g whole almonds
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 3 small pears - cored but not peeled
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 large egg (I used a duck egg)
- 125g golden wholemeal (or half wholemeal, half plain)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 25g crystallised ginger - chopped
- 1 tsp demerara sugar
- Grind the almonds in a blender or food processor (I used my Optimum G2.3).
- Add two of the pears along with the coconut oil and blend for a minute or two or until the pears are pureed.
- Add the honey and eggs and blend again until well mixed.
- Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Make a well in the centre, then pour in the nut batter and gently mix in stirring from the inside outwards.
- Stir in the crystallised ginger.
- Divide the mixture between 9 cupcake cases.
- Thinly slice the remaining pear and arrange on top of the cakes.
- Sprinkle a little of the sugar over each one.
- Bake at 180℃ for 20 minutes or until the cakes are well risen and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Great cakes for eating around the fire on Bonfire Night.
Linkies
I’m sending these easy gingered pear almond honey cakes off to Jo’s Kitchen and Lavender and Lovage for this month’s Tea Time Treats. The theme is Halloween and Bonfire Night treats. These bonfire night cakes also go to Bake of the Week at Casa Costello
Other pear cake recipes you might like
- Caramelised pear, honey carob cake via Tin and Thyme
- Chocolate pear cake via Tinned Tomatoes
- Chocolate pear cardamom upside-down cake via Tin and Thyme
- Pear & ginger crumble cake via The Crafty Larder
- Pear & pecan cake via Casa Castello
- Pear upside-down cake via Farmersgirl Kitchen
If you like this recipe for easy gingered pear almond honey cakes why not pin it for later?
I use my Optimum Blenders for smoothies, spreads, sauces and even chocolate making. The post contains affiliate links. Buying through a link will not cost you any more, but I will get a small commission. This helps keep Tin and Thyme blythe and blogging. Opinions are, as always, my own.
Angie@Angie's Recipes
25th October 2016 at 2:07 pmThey are fantastic, Choclette. I love that you made this low fat, low sugar and low calories..absolutely my kind of tea time treat.
Choclette
26th October 2016 at 11:31 amThanks Angie. I’m not sure almonds can be classed as low calorie, but it is all good fat 🙂
Nayna Kanabar
25th October 2016 at 5:44 pmWhat a lovely combination of ingredients. I am sure the cakes would have tasted amazing.
Choclette
26th October 2016 at 11:30 amThanks Nayna. The cakes went down very well indeed 🙂
Janice
25th October 2016 at 7:36 pmWhat a lovely idea, beautiful ingredients, perfectly combined. Thanks too for sharing my upside down cake
Choclette
26th October 2016 at 11:29 amThanks Janice. It’s amazing what comes out of other failed recipes 😉
Jen
25th October 2016 at 9:06 pmA fantastic seasonal bake. Pears are so delicious with honey and almonds, love the slices of pear on top of the cakes.
Choclette
26th October 2016 at 11:27 amYes, they’d have looked a bit boring without the pears I reckon.
Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes
26th October 2016 at 6:50 amWhat a lovely treat for bonfire night. I love baking with pears they add a lovely flavour to cakes.
Choclette
26th October 2016 at 11:21 amThanks Jemma. Pears give quite a gentle flavour, but a good one.
Kate - gluten free alchemist
26th October 2016 at 7:27 pmNice! I’m definitely on a bit of a pear thing at the moment, so these are right up my street. Perfect for the season xx
Choclette
28th October 2016 at 8:51 pmAnd so easy to make them gluten free too Kate 🙂
Dom
27th October 2016 at 9:35 amPear and Almond! HELLO!! These look rather fabulous don’t they. I love what you write about The transatlantic excess of Halloween. I mean I love Halloween but of course there will always be a place in my heart for Bonfire Night
Choclette
28th October 2016 at 8:48 pmWell that was a CTism, he’s even more anti than me. But I love Bonfire night. I’ll let you have one or two of these for Halloween though, just because I love you Dom.
Chris @thinlyspread
27th October 2016 at 10:36 amPerfect autumnal baking, these sound so good – I bet they smell amazing!
Choclette
28th October 2016 at 8:47 pmThey were amazingly good considering they were a by product of a mistake.
nadia
28th October 2016 at 1:05 pmThey look really delicious Choclette! 😀 Love the flavour combination.
Choclette
28th October 2016 at 8:44 pmThanks Nadia. I was quite pleased with them, especially as I’d no intention of baking at all when I started.
Aimee | Wallflower Kitchen
29th October 2016 at 2:49 pmPear, ginger and almond? I bet these taste incredible. They certainly look like they do!
Choclette
30th October 2016 at 5:08 pmThey only came about because I couldn’t manage to make nut butter Aimee, but I don’t regret it, they were delicious.
HodgePodgeDays
31st October 2016 at 10:32 amLike you I love ginger in cakes and these look so delicious. My mouth is watering just looking at them!
Choclette
5th November 2016 at 4:43 pmThank you, that’s the best complement anyone can make 🙂
Helen at Casa Costello
1st November 2016 at 11:16 pmIt wouldn’t be Bonfire Night around here without some sort of ginger treat and these look just perfect! Thanks also for mentioning my Pear & Pecan Cake aswell as joining in with #BakeoftheWeek – Great to have you on board.
Choclette
2nd November 2016 at 4:12 pmThanks Helen. I’d join in more often if I could but remember!
Heidi Roberts
3rd November 2016 at 4:36 pmThese would be perfect for my morning coffee – I could pop a few straight in!!
Choclette
5th November 2016 at 4:26 pmThat of course is the trouble with cakes in the house 😉
Glamorous Glutton
7th November 2016 at 11:22 amThese look delicious, so good that they are low sugar and fat. I’m with you I love a little almond in my cakes. GG
Choclette
8th November 2016 at 9:21 amThanks GG. It certainly makes a change to be able to eat cake and not feel bad about it. Mind you, I’m not sure I ever feel bad about it 😉
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche
7th November 2016 at 11:24 amOh the flavours in these sound absolutely divine. Ginger, pear, almond AND honey?! Just gorgeous!!
Choclette
8th November 2016 at 9:20 amThanks Becca. Autumn is such a good excuse for making lots of delicious bakes and comfort food.
Jo of Jo's Kitchen
9th November 2016 at 3:58 pmThese look delicious! Thank you for entering #TeaTimeTreats!
Choclette
10th November 2016 at 10:11 amThank you Jo, they are great cakes for Autumn 🙂
Cathy @ Planet Veggie
30th November 2016 at 11:33 amI like cakes but not when they’re too sweet, so these sound great for me!
Choclette
30th November 2016 at 5:47 pmYay! Unless I know I’m in for a really sweet hit, like fudge, I prefer to taste the flavours of my cakes and biscuits and not be overwhelmed with sugar.
Eb Gargano
16th February 2017 at 2:22 pmOh wow, Choclette, these sound amazing – I love all the ingredients and I especially like that they are low in sugar. Definitely pinning these on my must make board. Eb x
Choclette
16th February 2017 at 2:32 pmGosh, where did these spring from? I’d completely forgotten about them. But now you come to mention them … 🙂