One For All

Every at-home dad needs an easy-to-prepare, sure-to-please desert. A sweet surprise. An element of the dinner party that no one saw coming.

Well, at least not from a bloke.

Mine is an adaptation of the Apple & Pecan Crumble Cake from Michele Cranston's Marie Claire Fresh; the adaptation being that mine is a Pear & Pecan Crumble Cake.

It's not that I didn't like her recipe, or that I prefer pears to apples. In fact, quite the opposite. It's more that I once bought a box of pears for $10 from the Flemington Market. Austin could only eat so many, which meant I was left looking for other things to do with them.

And in doing so I stumbled across an absolute winner.

The beauty of this cake lies in its different textures. Juicy slices of pear sandwiched between a soft biscuit base and a crunchy nut cake. The top has an almost meringue-like crust, while around the sides there's the sweet caramelisation of the sugar and pear.

It does take an hour to cook but is only 20 minutes in the preparation. It's also just as good one or two days later, and any at-home parent and/or domestic goddess will tell you how handy that is.

Or you could find out for yourself. All you'll need is:

125g plain flour
370g brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
125g butter
125ml milk
2 eggs
100g coarsely chopped pecan nuts
2 pears, peeled and finely sliced

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF and line a round 20cm cake tin with baking paper. This is important because of the amount of caramelisation that occurs.

And, no, that's not a word I would ever have used before Masterchef came along.

Now blend the flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. The book says to use a food processor and stop when it resembles breadcrumbs, but I find this easier to achieve using my fingers. Either way, once you're there put half in the cake tin and gently press it down. Carefully place the pear slices on top.

For the next bit you do need a food processor. Well, that's what I use, but I imagine a cake mixer would also do the trick. Whatever you use, the important thing is that you add the eggs and milk to the other half of your crumble and mix until you have a smooth batter. Fold in the nuts and pour into the cake tin.

Bake for one hour and serve either cold or slightly warm with a big dollop of whipped cream. The book says it serves 10 but I recommend a more generous approach.

Besides, it's much easier to cut eight evenly-sized wedges.

Enjoy - and feel free to pass it on. Just tell people where you found the recipe and encourage them to buy Michele Cranston's book. You might even be inspired to do so yourself.