Fresh Pear Cake with Whipped Brown Sugar Buttercream
An elegant, flavorful, and incredibly moist cake infused with the sweetness of fresh fall pears and frosted with the smoothest, lightest whipped brown sugar buttercream!
Ingredients
Fresh Pear Cake:
- 6 ripe medium-sized pears (19 ounces, peeled and cored)*
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Whipped Brown Sugar Buttercream:
- 7 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ⅓ cup milk
- 1 ¼ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 Tablespoons pecans chopped and toasted
Instructions
Make the Cake:
- Peel and slice pears thin. Mix sliced pears with both sugars in a bowl. Let sit for one hour, then purée pear mixture in a food processor or blender.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line two 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper, then grease with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, use a fork or whisk to stir flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg together. Add pear purée, eggs, oil, and vanilla and stir just until combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 30-33 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with few crumbs attached. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the Buttercream:
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk flour and milk together, stirring constantly, until it thickens. It should look like thick pancake batter. Remove from heat and immediately pour milk mixture into a bowl to cool completely.**
- After the milk mixture has come to room temperature, use a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a beater to cream the butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt together on medium high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the completely cooled milk mixture, and beat it for about 5-7 minutes on high until it looks like whipped cream.***
To Assemble:
- Slice each cake layer in half horizontally, so that you end up with 4 cake layers total. Place one cake layer on a plate or cake pedestal and spread with 1/4 of the buttercream. Repeat, alternating layers of cake and filling, ending with a layer of buttercream. Sprinkle chopped pecans around the border of the cake. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Notes
*Depending on the size of your pears, you might not end up using 6 pears exactly. If you end up with more than 19 ounces by the time you've peeled and cored your pears, just use 19 ounces of it.
**The milk mixture can be refrigerated to speed up the cooling process.
***If your frosting still looks curdled after several minutes of beating, no need to panic! This is most likely because your butter or flour mixture was too cold. Simply remove a couple of tablespoons of the curdled mixture and place it into a small microwaveable bowl. Heat it in the microwave until it’s completely melted, then add it back into the mixing bowl. Turn the mixer on, and beat everything until it’s smooth. If it still looks curdled, just keep repeating this reheating technique a tablespoon at a time until the mixture comes together. Trust me, it eventually will!
**The milk mixture can be refrigerated to speed up the cooling process.
***If your frosting still looks curdled after several minutes of beating, no need to panic! This is most likely because your butter or flour mixture was too cold. Simply remove a couple of tablespoons of the curdled mixture and place it into a small microwaveable bowl. Heat it in the microwave until it’s completely melted, then add it back into the mixing bowl. Turn the mixer on, and beat everything until it’s smooth. If it still looks curdled, just keep repeating this reheating technique a tablespoon at a time until the mixture comes together. Trust me, it eventually will!