Categories: cake, desserts

Ingredients

• Makes one 10-inch cake
• 1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (10 ounces) cornmeal
• 1 firm, ripe pear or 4 or 5 fresh prunes sliced in half
• 1 cup (8 ounces/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1-1/2 cups (10 ounces) granulated sugar
• 6 eggs, at room temperature
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• Apple jelly, marmalade or apricot preserves, for glazing

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Prepare equipment and ingredients.

3. Lightly grease a 10 inch round cake pan. Measure flour, baking soda, salt and cornmeal into a medium-size bowl and whisk together to combine. Use a thin paring knife to cut pear in 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick slices. Fan slices on the bottom of the pan without overlapping them; there will probably be a few extra for snacking.

4. Cream butter and sugar.

5. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat ingredients on medium-high speed until butter is light in color and the texture is fluffy. This will take about 6 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl once during the process to evenly distribute butter.

6. Add eggs and vanilla.

7. Crack eggs into a liquid measure and add vanilla. With the mixer on medium speed, gradually add mixture allowing eggs to fall in one at a time and incorporate completely. Scrape the sides of the bowl once or twice while mixing.

8. Add dry ingredients.

9. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add dry ingredients and stop mixing just before flour disappears. Use a sturdy rubber spatula to finish mixing by hand, being certain to scrape up from the bottom of the bowl.

10. Bake.

11. Gently cover pears with batter, place pan in the middle of the oven and bake 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. The cake is ready when it begins to pull away slightly from the edges of the pan; it should spring back when pressed lightly in the center.

12. Cool and glaze cake.

13. Let the cake cool 5 minutes before carefully inverting it onto a serving plate. Heat marmalade with enough water to create a syrupy consistency and brush over pears and sides of cake to lightly soak. Serve with crème fresh or lightly sweetened whipped cream.

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