Red Wine-Pear Cardamom Cake

By Melissa Clark

Published Nov. 16, 2022

Red Wine-Pear Cardamom Cake
Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Total Time
1 hour 30 minutes, plus cooling
Rating
4(534)
Comments
Read comments

This fragrant, fruity cake is a riff on Marian Burros’s original plum torte, one of The New York Times’ most popular recipes. But instead of plums, this buttery, moist cake (here, spiked with a little cardamom and citrus zest) is topped with pears that have been sautéed in red wine and butter. Like the original, it’s good served both plain, or with whipped cream or sour cream on the side.

Featured in: Yes, There Are Great Thanksgiving Desserts That Aren’t Pie

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Ingredients

Yield:6 to 8 servings

    For the Red Wine Pears

    • 1¼cups/296 milliliters dry red wine
    • 2 to 3pears, not too ripe (1 pound), peeled, cored, and sliced ½-inch thick (2 cups sliced pears)
    • 2tablespoons/28 grams unsalted butter
    • 1 to 2tablespoons/12 to 25 grams granulated sugar

    For the Cake

    • ½cup/113 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
    • ¾cup/150 grams granulated sugar
    • 2large eggs, at room temperature
    • 1teaspoon baking powder
    • 1teaspoon ground cardamom
    • 1teaspoon grated lemon or orange zest
    • ¼teaspoon fine sea or table salt
    • 1cup/125 grams all-purpose flour
    • Confectioners’ sugar, for serving (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

350 calories; 16 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 44 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 27 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 140 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Prepare the pears: Pour the wine into a large skillet and place it over medium-high heat. Let simmer until it reduces by half, 5 to 8 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Add the pears, butter and sugar (use less sugar if your pears are very sweet). Let simmer until the pears absorb the wine and caramelize, 7 to 10 minutes. All the liquid should be gone. Spoon pears into a bowl and let cool while you prepare the cake batter.

  3. Step 3

    Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the cake: Butter an 8- or 9-inch springform pan. Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle, or a bowl and wooden spoon, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 to 6 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add the baking powder, cardamom, citrus zest and salt, and beat until smooth. Beat in flour until well combined.

  4. Step 4

    Scrape batter into the pan and smooth the top. Lay the pear slices on top of the cake. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour (the 9-inch pan bakes faster than the 8-inch). The top should be light golden, and the crumb should spring back when lightly pressed with a finger.

  5. Step 5

    Serve warm or at room temperature, topped with a little confectioners’ sugar, if you like. Cake will keep in the refrigerator for 24 hours; bring to room temperature before serving.

Ratings

4 out of 5
534 user ratings
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Comments

Mike

The batter actually doesn't belong below, even in the original recipe, which I've made numerous times—the fruit always sinks in somewhat. It makes cutting and eating it a nice surprise.

Nick C

Yes, you can use gluten free flour. I’ve used the original recipe (plum torte) with rice flour many times for family members with allergies and it tastes just as good (if not better).

Richard

Maybe next time you'll make this recipe!

pielover

To die for! Super delicious right out of the oven, just cooled about five minutes. This would be a dessert I would bring to a dinner gathering to impress my friends. It’s unbelievably delicious. So I roughly doubled the cardamom. I had to cook the pears for quite a bit longer than the recipe calls for in order to cook down all of the wine. An 8 inch cake pan was just the perfect size and the batter did not overflow. 9 inch would just make for two shallow of a cake in my opinion. Used gluten-free flour mix and vegan butter half-and-half with coconut oil as that’s what I happened to have on hand and it worked perfectly. Cut down on the sugar to 1/2 cup. Spoon half the batter into the pan then layered the pears then covered with the rest of the batter. The cake made a nice crunchy crust almost like cornbread texture around the outside edges and inside it is light and fine grained. I suspect this is best just out of the oven but it will be interesting to see how it is the second day.

Anne

Good, but not nearly as good as the original plum torte and a bit fussier.

LC

Does anyone know what the standard storing instructions are if you want to make this in the morning and serve at night - looks like its just store in the fridge wrapped after its fully cooled and then reheat before serving?

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