It’s pear season again, in some places the fruit is ripe already.

Here is a quick and easy recipe for a delicious morning or afternoon tea treat.

If you like, you could add half a cup of fresh or frozen blueberries to the cake batter.

Pear Tea Cake

Delicious served warm or cold.

For a higher cake, use an 18cnm tin instead sof 20cm.

Ingredients

1 large egg

¾ cup sugar

Finely grated rind one lemon

¾ cup milk

1½ cups self raising flour

60g butter, melted

Halved or sliced pears (fresh, tinned or preserved) – you will need 6 to 8, depending on size

For topping

30g melted butter

1 to 2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon (approximately} ground cinnamon

Method

Heat oven to 160 degrees C (fan forced).  Grease a 20cm (round or square) tin and line base with baking paper, then grease over this.

Whisk the egg, sugar and lemon rind together. 

All at once add the milk, flour and melted butter and when all are in the bowl, whisk until smooth.

Transfer to the prepared tin and level out.  Top with the pears, arranged decoratively.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes approximately until a metal skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Remove from oven, leave to stand in tin for 5 minutes and then turn out into a wire rack (then invert). 

Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon or sugar.

Below are photos of the cake before baking (as you can see I was not too fussy in the peeling of the pears, doesn’t matter), and the cake fresh from the oven.

Incidentally, if the baked cake looks burnt on the bottom, it’s not – the base of the springform tin is still attached.