Carrot Hazelnut Crumb Cake with Red Wine Poached Pears
This showstopping carrot cake is moreish and comforting, no icing required. While great on their own, the Red Wine Poached Pears add extra texture to this cake. Also, baking them right into the cake keeps the cake moist and fresh for up to 5 days, making this a great make-ahead dessert. Serve this cake with Carolans Irish Cream Liqueur or Inniskillin Okanagan Pinot Noir.Ingredients
Serves 6 poached pears
⅔ cup + ¼ cup (220 ml) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
1¼ cups (310 ml) granulated sugar, divided
1⅔ cups (410 ml) all-purpose flour, divided
1 cup (250 ml) shredded carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
2 tsp (10 ml) baking powder
½ tsp (2.5 ml) freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp (5 ml) ground cardamom
1 tsp (5 ml) ground cinnamon
½ tsp (2.5 ml) kosher salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup (125 ml) hazelnut flour
½ cup (125 ml) sour cream
¼ cup (60 ml) whole milk
6 Red Wine Poached Pears, room temperature, make ahead, recipe follows
⅓ cup (80 ml) roughly chopped hazelnuts
RED WINE POACHED PEARS
2 cups (500 ml) water
2 cups (500 ml) Inniskillin Okanagan Estate Pinot Noir
1 cup (250 ml) granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, split in half and seeds scraped out
6 small firm Bosc pears or Forelle pears, peeled but not cored
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C). Lightly grease base and sides of a 9-in (23 cm) springform pan and line with parchment. Set aside.
- In bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat ⅔ cup (160 ml) butter and 1 cup (250 ml) sugar at medium-high speed, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until mixture is very pale and creamy, about 3 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, whisk 1⅓ cups (330 ml) flour, shredded carrots, baking powder, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon and salt until well combined.
- Add 2 tbsp (30 ml) flour mixture to butter mixture and beat until combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each. Add remaining flour mixture, hazelnut flour, sour cream and milk. Mix until just combined. Spoon batter into prepared springform pan and smooth out into 1 even layer. Press pears into batter so they are arranged evenly and are standing upright.
- Make a quick hazelnut crumb by placing chopped hazelnuts and remaining ¼ cup (60 ml) butter, ¼ cup (60 ml) sugar and ⅓ cup (80 ml) flour in a medium bowl. Using your hands, rub ingredients together until a coarse crumb forms. Sprinkle crumble over cake, in and around pears.
- Bake until golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in centre of cake comes out clean, 60 to 75 minutes. If crumble is browning too quickly, loosely cover with foil and continue to bake until cake is done. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 20 minutes, then remove springform collar and parchment (leave base on) and let cool to room temperature on rack.
- To serve, transfer cake to a cake plate or cutting board. Cut and serve. Serve reduced pear poaching liquid alongside to drizzle over cake, if desired.
- RED WINE POACHED PEARS
- In a small saucepan, stir water, wine, sugar and vanilla bean. Warm mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Bring mixture just to a simmer.
- Place pears in simmering sugar syrup. To keep pears submerged, place a piece of parchment over them so that it touches poaching liquid. Poaching time for pears will depend on their ripeness. To check pears for doneness, after 8 to 10 minutes, lift them gently from syrup with a slotted spoon and, using a small knife, poke flesh. Pears are done when knife meets little resistance. If not yet done, return pears to sugar syrup and check every 3 to 5 minutes. When cooked to desired doneness, transfer pears to a bowl or plate, trying to keep them standing upright (slicing off a bit of each pear’s bottom helps with this). Let cool completely to room temperature before using.
- If desired, to make a syrup, return poaching liquid to stovetop over high heat and boil until reduced by half and syrupy, about 5 minutes. Set aside until needed.