- Made from the juice of unripe grapes, verjuice adds brightness without overpowering the other flavours.
- Make sure all the sugar granules are completely dissolved in your cake batter.
- Soaking dried pears brings back their softness and allows them to absorb flavour more evenly. Verjuice is ideal for this.
- Ensure your bowl and whisk are completely dry and free from fat. Wipe them with vinegar or lemon juice if needed.
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- 180g dried pears
- ¼ cup verjuice
- ¼ cup water
- 300ml verjuice
- 250g caster sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 15g ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
- 3 fresh bay leaves
- 250ml verjuice syrup
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 4 eggs, separated
- 80ml extra virgin olive oil
- 65g spelt flour
- 1 cup plain flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- crème fraiche, to serve
- Reconstitute pears in ¼ cup of verjuice and ¼ cup of water overnight, or in the microwave in a covered bowl for 2 minutes on the defrost cycle, or until soft. Drain juice off and put aside. With new season pears that have been semi-dried, this process is not required in the microwave.
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Line the base and sides of a 20cm solid-based cake tin with baking paper. Ensure the collar of the baking paper is 3—4 centimetres higher than sides of the tin.
- , place the balance of the 375ml bottle of verjuice, sugar and cinnamon in a shallow pan, about 28cm in diameter. Bring to a rapid boil over a high heat. Boil until it reduces by approximately half (about 10 minutes) or until it begins to form a brown caramel colour. Be careful not to let it go to toffee (this should yield 250mls of liquid when cooked down). Remove cinnamon stick and discard, add the ginger and bay leaves. Take it off the heat and leave for 5 minutes to infuse.
- Place back on the heat for a moment to bring it back to temperature.
- Immediately pour into the cake pan, to prevent further cooking. Arrange bay leaves and ginger on the base and place reconstituted pears on top of syrup.
- , in a mixing bowl, beat the sugar with egg yolks until thick and pale. With the mixer running slowly, pour in extra virgin olive oil and the juices left from soaking the pears into the egg yolk mixture. Whisk for 30 seconds to combine. Sift in the flours and baking powder, then beat for 1 minute or until batter is smooth. Pour into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Place egg whites into a clean mixing bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Gently fold in the whisked egg whites ⅓ at a time into the batter mixture using a metal spoon.
- Pour mixture into a prepared tin and bake for 40—45 minutes, or until cooked all the way through. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin for a minimum of 5 minutes before turning out.
- Turn out on plate and remove baking paper base. Serve with crème fraîche.