Caramelised pears grace the top of this melt-in-the-mouth cake. It’s more of a pudding than a cake, but is delicious either way and is also gluten and refined sugar free.
Grind the seeds from the cardamom pods in a pestle and mortar to form a powder.
2 cardamom pods
Peel, quarter and core the pears.
2 firm Williams pears
Melt the butter in a large frying pan with the honey on a medium to low heat.
25 g unsalted butter, 2 tbsp honey
Add the cardamom powder and stir to distribute.
Add the pears and leave for about 5 minutes to brown a little. Turn them over and repeat the process for the other side. Leave to cool.
Cake
Whip the butter and honey until light and creamy.
150 g unsalted butter, 125 g firm honey
Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
2 large eggs
Sift in the buckwheat flour and carob powder and fold in together with the ground almonds.
75 g buckwheat flour, 50 g carob powder, 75 g ground almonds
Spoon the batter into a 22 cm round silicone cake mould or lined tin.
Place the pear quarters in a fan shape on top of the cake and scrape any remaining caramel over the tops.
Bake in a preheated oven at 170℃ (150℃ fan, 325℉, Gas 3) for 40 minutes or until the cake is risen and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out more or less clean.
Leave to cool in the tin for twenty minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Dust the top with icing sugar.
Notes
You can also serve this cake warm as a pudding.Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They're approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.