This cake was born from my anxiety. Whenever I am feeling crazy, anxious, kinda sick, or even just really happy, I want to be in the kitchen making something. It's probably some deep seeded control issue that I have (I can't control my brain, but I can control bread dough), but whatever. Being in the kitchen takes my head out of life , even just for a little while, and let's me concentrate on something else that really has nothing to do with whatever I am thinking about (unless I am thinking about food, in which I bake whatever food I am thinking about) Does this all make sense or am I just nuts?
So yeah, the other day I was having one of those days. I was extra crazy (for so many reasons) and really needed to just step away from my thoughts. I rushed home and just started grabbing stuff.. cake stuff. I figured that If I was going to bake something that I might as well bake a little snack cake for the mr, especially sense he has to deal with this crazy. I had a large quantity of pears that were all ripening at once sitting in the fruit basket, so I grabbed some of those. And I grabbed the ginger… well because why not.
And I made this cake.. and I felt better. And the mr got cake (also brought some to my sisters.. her and the kids ate it all within minutes). It was a win win situation.
So now you know. If you are my friend and I am feeling some feelings, at some point, you will proably get a cake.
The stuff. A few pears,some fresh ginger, brown sugar and cinnamon. Also have some white whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. And some oil, apple cider vinegar and a little bit of water.
Start with the pears. Cut in half, remove seed and stems, then chop/mince the crap out of them. It's cool to have a few big chunks., it adds some good texture. Take the pears and as much as the juice you can scrap from the counter and stick into a bowl.
Grate up a few good tablespoons of fresh ginger..
Tip. I keep my ginger in the freezer. its easier to grate and it doesn't go bad!
The ginger goes into the bowl with the pears, along with the oil, cinnamon, sugar, water and vinegar. Mix it all up . Then all that wet mixture goes into the bowl with the flour, baking soda and powder and the salt.
And that get's all mixed.. and now you have cake batter!
Depending on you pears and how juicy they are, you might find that your batter seems to dry, just add in another 1/4 cup of water. The batter should be the consistency of like greek yogurt, not ruing, but not stiff either.
Preheat you cook box (oven)
Dump the batter into a well greased 9x9 inch pan. Slice up another pear into thin strips (I only used half, then ate the other half)
Lay the slices on top to make it look all pretty. Do what I did, or some other design (it's your cake to make pretty any way you want). Once you do that, stick the cake into the oven.
When the cake is a nice deep golden brown, take it out of the oven.
Maybe let it cool for a few minutes, letting the smell wrap around your head so that you smell like baking all day. No cut yourself a slab, grab some coffee, and go for it.
Enjoy
-C
Pear Ginger Cake
Makes a 9x9 inch single layer cake
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 2 cups minced , super ripe and jucey pears (about 2 whole pears)
- 2 tablespoon freshly frated ginger
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/4- 1/2 cup water
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Preheat oven to 350
Take pears, remove seeds and stem, and chop the crap out of them until they are tiny little pieces. Scoop pears, and any juice they leave behind into a bowl. Add in the sugar, oil, cinnamon, ginger, vinegar, and 1/4 cup of water and mix until incorporated. In a seprertare big bowl, mix together the salt, baking soda and powder with the flour. Add in the wet mixture and mix until fully incorporated. If the batter seems to dry (should be the constancy of whipped potatoes or greek yogurt), add in another 1/4 cup of water.
Scoop batter into a greased 9x9 inch baking pan. If you want to make it pretty, grab another pear and cut into thin slices and place right on top of the batter in any fashion you like.
Place cake into oven and bake until a nice dark golden brown,about 40-45 minutes ,or until a tester stuck in the middle comes out clean.
Remove, let cool in pan, and cut yourself a big slab, grab some coffee e to tea, grab a book, and eat it. .