Pear Coffee Cake
Attentive readers have deduced that, along with wine, coffee is the official sponsoring beverage of Urban Home Blog. I am still honored that last winter’s coffee column was mentioned by no less an authority than my favorite mystery author. Last week we gathered in jangled online and in-person mobs to celebrate National Coffee Day. From posing with a newspaper on that beautiful background you see whenever you visit Urban Home Blog to helping me to write it, coffee is the most hospitable of beverages.
Before coffeehouse culture achieved its full foamy head with just a dusting of powdery aromatic cinnamon, hosting a coffee klatch was an expected part of every homekeeper’s repertoire of skills. In those days when “text” was words on paper and “tweet” was what birds do, the clarion call would go out by telephone, handwritten note or even hollering across the back yard to “come for coffee.” Though they could be formal, coffee klatches were inherently informal, and that was their charm and, for that matter, their usage. An impromptu gathering of friends and neighbors to bond, grouse, commiserate or just get to know each other over a cup of coffee is group support. It’s no coincidence that today, the evolution of “come for coffee” often leads to the local coffeehouse, nor is it accidental that that coffeehouse is wired for the wi-fi that helps us to log onto social media while we're there.
Of course, coffeehouses existed before Starbucks made that fateful decision to expand operations. Coffeehouses were typically located in big cities and college towns, where they had in turn migrated from European culture capitals. If, in the popular imagination, coffeehouses from the beat Village to University Avenue were forums for intellectual discourse, one can’t really say that on the homefront, the klatch was any different. Whether the coffee was inky demitasse perched on dime-sized tables or strong home brew served off of what is tellingly called the coffee table, minds and mouths were at work.
One thing they were working on was dessert. Whether elaborate fancies posed in glass cases or more homespun efforts displayed proudly on heirloom china, a sweet accompaniment is as important a partner to a cup of coffee as is sugar, cream and an opinion. In fact, at both the pastry chef and home cook levels of competition, constructing an appropriate dessert to serve with coffee was a barometer of skill not just as a cook but as a host.
Cookbooks and home entertaining guides from the era usually have entire sections devoted to the coffee klatch. Without fail, they include recipes for coffee rings and coffee cakes. A coffee ring is a filled quick bread baked in a ring, often slashed open so that the insides have the chance to huddle together in the oven’s warm embrace before being drizzled by a quick cool-down of powdered sugar icing. One such, a “della robbia wreath” of honeyed bread dough, sugared fruit and brandy, looks to require a Meilleurs Ouvriers de France level of commitment that I firmly believe home cooks would have no trouble with. But most are simpler, for a coffee treat echoes the cup it accompanies, and though that is a complex ballet of flavors so dramatic, nay poetic, that it inspires buzzed lifestyle writers to unedited flights of wordsmithing fancy, at its core, coffee is a simple, earthy beverage.
And that leads us to coffee cake. A coffee cake is typically a brown sugar cake, itself an almost lost artform in which the deep flavors of brown sugar mixed with sweet-hot spices mount a two-fold offense to infiltrate a cake both within the batter and along the streusel top. Aside from coffee cake, the most recognizable form of brown-sugar cake is the upside-down cake.
Whether it’s the famous white box with blue lettering you grab from the rack you swore you were going to avoid at the supermarket to an heirloom recipe handed down from your Nana, coffee cake is the perfect and, let’s admit it, expected offering for a coffee klatch. Here is my original recipe for a coffee cake that takes advantage of the season’s orchard bounty with a crown of buttery pears baked, in a tip of the hat and the pan to the upside-down cake, right under a spicy and brandy-laced caramel topping. Serve your pear coffee cake with your favorite blend – see my recommendations here – and just see how the conversation, and the smiles, progress when you send out the invitation to “come for coffee.”
PEAR COFFEE CAKE
Almond flour is available in the baking sections of larger supermarkets and online, but if you can’t find it, buy whole unsalted almonds and finely grind them using the grinder attachment of a stick blender. In our urban kitchen, we use a handheld mixer to make cakes, but you can use a stand mixer for this recipe; just adjust the mixing directions accordingly.
4 medium ripe firm-fleshed pears, such as Anjou, Bartlett or Bosc
2-½ sticks unsalted butter
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup ground almonds or almond flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1-1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon brandy
3 large eggs
Non-stick cooking spray
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray an 11-inch baking pan with non-stick baking spray. Place the prepared pan safely within reach of your working surface.
3. Unwrap two sticks unsalted butter and place the butter in the well of a deep bowl. Use the wrappers to loosely cover the butter. Set the bowl aside so that the butter can soften.
4. Fill a bowl large enough to hold the pears halfway with water. Add a few drops commercial produce cleaner to the water; swirl to combine. Gently remove stickers if any from the pears and place the pears in the water.
5. Unwrap the remaining half-stick of unsalted butter and place the butter into a small saucepan. Melt the butter over low heat, swirling the butter in the pan to help it along. Once the butter is melted, turn off the burner.
6. Use a spoon to fill a 1-cup measure with brown sugar. Use the back of the spoon to press the sugar into the measure so that it is “tightly packed.” Transfer the tightly packed brown sugar to the melted butter. Use a wire whisk to break the sugar up into the butter. Measure the brandy and ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon into the butter-sugar mixture. Whisk the mixture until no lumps remain.
7. Hold the pan containing the butter-sugar mixture over the prepared baking pan. Transfer the butter-sugar mixture to the baking pan. Use a silicon spatula to get all of the mixture into the baking pan, and to smooth it in an even layer across the bottom of the pan.
8. Remove the pears from the cleaning water and place them into a colander. Rinse the pears under cool water.
9. Working one at a time, place each pear stem-end up on the cutting board. Cut the pear in half from top to bottom. Halve each half to form quarters. Use the knife to remove the stem, seeds with their hard core, the blossom end, and any bruised or discolored areas. Cut each trimmed quarter in half to form eighths. As you go, align each eighth in a slightly overlapping layer across the butter-sugar mixture on the bottom of the baking pan.
10. Measure the flour, almond flour or ground almonds, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom and remaining 1 teaspoon of cinnamon into a bowl; use a whisk to combine. Place the bowl of spiced flour near the mixing area.
11. Tightly pack the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar following the directions in step 6 above. Place the brown sugar into a bowl. Add the granulated sugar to the bowl containing the brown sugar. Place the bowl near the mixing area.
12. Place the vanilla extract, the eggs and the measuring spoons near the mixing area.
13. Use a handheld mixer to whip the butter until it is pale and creamy; approximately two minutes. Use a silicon spatula to scrape down the beaters and the sides of the bowl.
14. Add the dry brown sugar mixture to the bowl containing the whipped butter. Use the mixer to whip the mixture together until it is thick and creamy, approximately two minutes. Use a silicon spatula to scrape down the beaters and the sides of the bowl.
15. Break an egg into the bowl containing the butter-sugar mixture. Measure the vanilla extract into the bowl containing the butter-sugar mixture. Use the mixer to whip the egg and the vanilla into the butter-sugar mixture.
16. Add one-half of the spiced flour mixture to the batter mixture in the bowl; use the mixer to beat the mixture just until combined. Add the second egg to the batter mixture, followed by the remaining half of the spiced flour mixture, followed by the third egg. Beat the batter after each addition just until combined.
17. Hold the bowl containing the batter over the prepared baking pan. Use a silicon spatula to gently transfer the batter to the pan, moving the bowl down the pan in order to minimize the disturbance to the pear-brown sugar mixture on the bottom of the pan.
18. Carefully transfer the pan to the preheated oven. Bake undisturbed for 20 minutes.
19. While the coffee cake is baking, position a baking rack large enough to hold the cake over a double layer of paper towels or a clean cookie sheet.
20. After 20 minutes, check the cake using a cake tester or toothpick; the tester should come out clean. If warranted, bake the cake 5 minutes longer. Once the cake is cooked through, remove the cake from the oven and turn the oven off.
21. Place the baking rack upside-down on the top of the cake pan, so that the bottom of the baking rack is facing upwards. Use pot holders to grab the pan and the rack and to hold them together. Flip the pan and the rack so that the rack is on the bottom. The legs of the baking rack should pop down.
22. Stand the baking rack with the inverted cake over the paper towels/cookie sheet. The cake should fall onto the rack.
23. Gently remove the baking pan. Use the silicon spatula to remove and replace any dislodged or stuck pear topping.
24. Let cake cool 5 minutes before serving.
Before coffeehouse culture achieved its full foamy head with just a dusting of powdery aromatic cinnamon, hosting a coffee klatch was an expected part of every homekeeper’s repertoire of skills. In those days when “text” was words on paper and “tweet” was what birds do, the clarion call would go out by telephone, handwritten note or even hollering across the back yard to “come for coffee.” Though they could be formal, coffee klatches were inherently informal, and that was their charm and, for that matter, their usage. An impromptu gathering of friends and neighbors to bond, grouse, commiserate or just get to know each other over a cup of coffee is group support. It’s no coincidence that today, the evolution of “come for coffee” often leads to the local coffeehouse, nor is it accidental that that coffeehouse is wired for the wi-fi that helps us to log onto social media while we're there.
Of course, coffeehouses existed before Starbucks made that fateful decision to expand operations. Coffeehouses were typically located in big cities and college towns, where they had in turn migrated from European culture capitals. If, in the popular imagination, coffeehouses from the beat Village to University Avenue were forums for intellectual discourse, one can’t really say that on the homefront, the klatch was any different. Whether the coffee was inky demitasse perched on dime-sized tables or strong home brew served off of what is tellingly called the coffee table, minds and mouths were at work.
One thing they were working on was dessert. Whether elaborate fancies posed in glass cases or more homespun efforts displayed proudly on heirloom china, a sweet accompaniment is as important a partner to a cup of coffee as is sugar, cream and an opinion. In fact, at both the pastry chef and home cook levels of competition, constructing an appropriate dessert to serve with coffee was a barometer of skill not just as a cook but as a host.
Cookbooks and home entertaining guides from the era usually have entire sections devoted to the coffee klatch. Without fail, they include recipes for coffee rings and coffee cakes. A coffee ring is a filled quick bread baked in a ring, often slashed open so that the insides have the chance to huddle together in the oven’s warm embrace before being drizzled by a quick cool-down of powdered sugar icing. One such, a “della robbia wreath” of honeyed bread dough, sugared fruit and brandy, looks to require a Meilleurs Ouvriers de France level of commitment that I firmly believe home cooks would have no trouble with. But most are simpler, for a coffee treat echoes the cup it accompanies, and though that is a complex ballet of flavors so dramatic, nay poetic, that it inspires buzzed lifestyle writers to unedited flights of wordsmithing fancy, at its core, coffee is a simple, earthy beverage.
And that leads us to coffee cake. A coffee cake is typically a brown sugar cake, itself an almost lost artform in which the deep flavors of brown sugar mixed with sweet-hot spices mount a two-fold offense to infiltrate a cake both within the batter and along the streusel top. Aside from coffee cake, the most recognizable form of brown-sugar cake is the upside-down cake.
Whether it’s the famous white box with blue lettering you grab from the rack you swore you were going to avoid at the supermarket to an heirloom recipe handed down from your Nana, coffee cake is the perfect and, let’s admit it, expected offering for a coffee klatch. Here is my original recipe for a coffee cake that takes advantage of the season’s orchard bounty with a crown of buttery pears baked, in a tip of the hat and the pan to the upside-down cake, right under a spicy and brandy-laced caramel topping. Serve your pear coffee cake with your favorite blend – see my recommendations here – and just see how the conversation, and the smiles, progress when you send out the invitation to “come for coffee.”
PEAR COFFEE CAKE
Almond flour is available in the baking sections of larger supermarkets and online, but if you can’t find it, buy whole unsalted almonds and finely grind them using the grinder attachment of a stick blender. In our urban kitchen, we use a handheld mixer to make cakes, but you can use a stand mixer for this recipe; just adjust the mixing directions accordingly.
4 medium ripe firm-fleshed pears, such as Anjou, Bartlett or Bosc
2-½ sticks unsalted butter
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup ground almonds or almond flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1-1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon brandy
3 large eggs
Non-stick cooking spray
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray an 11-inch baking pan with non-stick baking spray. Place the prepared pan safely within reach of your working surface.
3. Unwrap two sticks unsalted butter and place the butter in the well of a deep bowl. Use the wrappers to loosely cover the butter. Set the bowl aside so that the butter can soften.
4. Fill a bowl large enough to hold the pears halfway with water. Add a few drops commercial produce cleaner to the water; swirl to combine. Gently remove stickers if any from the pears and place the pears in the water.
5. Unwrap the remaining half-stick of unsalted butter and place the butter into a small saucepan. Melt the butter over low heat, swirling the butter in the pan to help it along. Once the butter is melted, turn off the burner.
6. Use a spoon to fill a 1-cup measure with brown sugar. Use the back of the spoon to press the sugar into the measure so that it is “tightly packed.” Transfer the tightly packed brown sugar to the melted butter. Use a wire whisk to break the sugar up into the butter. Measure the brandy and ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon into the butter-sugar mixture. Whisk the mixture until no lumps remain.
7. Hold the pan containing the butter-sugar mixture over the prepared baking pan. Transfer the butter-sugar mixture to the baking pan. Use a silicon spatula to get all of the mixture into the baking pan, and to smooth it in an even layer across the bottom of the pan.
8. Remove the pears from the cleaning water and place them into a colander. Rinse the pears under cool water.
9. Working one at a time, place each pear stem-end up on the cutting board. Cut the pear in half from top to bottom. Halve each half to form quarters. Use the knife to remove the stem, seeds with their hard core, the blossom end, and any bruised or discolored areas. Cut each trimmed quarter in half to form eighths. As you go, align each eighth in a slightly overlapping layer across the butter-sugar mixture on the bottom of the baking pan.
10. Measure the flour, almond flour or ground almonds, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom and remaining 1 teaspoon of cinnamon into a bowl; use a whisk to combine. Place the bowl of spiced flour near the mixing area.
11. Tightly pack the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar following the directions in step 6 above. Place the brown sugar into a bowl. Add the granulated sugar to the bowl containing the brown sugar. Place the bowl near the mixing area.
12. Place the vanilla extract, the eggs and the measuring spoons near the mixing area.
13. Use a handheld mixer to whip the butter until it is pale and creamy; approximately two minutes. Use a silicon spatula to scrape down the beaters and the sides of the bowl.
14. Add the dry brown sugar mixture to the bowl containing the whipped butter. Use the mixer to whip the mixture together until it is thick and creamy, approximately two minutes. Use a silicon spatula to scrape down the beaters and the sides of the bowl.
15. Break an egg into the bowl containing the butter-sugar mixture. Measure the vanilla extract into the bowl containing the butter-sugar mixture. Use the mixer to whip the egg and the vanilla into the butter-sugar mixture.
16. Add one-half of the spiced flour mixture to the batter mixture in the bowl; use the mixer to beat the mixture just until combined. Add the second egg to the batter mixture, followed by the remaining half of the spiced flour mixture, followed by the third egg. Beat the batter after each addition just until combined.
17. Hold the bowl containing the batter over the prepared baking pan. Use a silicon spatula to gently transfer the batter to the pan, moving the bowl down the pan in order to minimize the disturbance to the pear-brown sugar mixture on the bottom of the pan.
18. Carefully transfer the pan to the preheated oven. Bake undisturbed for 20 minutes.
19. While the coffee cake is baking, position a baking rack large enough to hold the cake over a double layer of paper towels or a clean cookie sheet.
20. After 20 minutes, check the cake using a cake tester or toothpick; the tester should come out clean. If warranted, bake the cake 5 minutes longer. Once the cake is cooked through, remove the cake from the oven and turn the oven off.
21. Place the baking rack upside-down on the top of the cake pan, so that the bottom of the baking rack is facing upwards. Use pot holders to grab the pan and the rack and to hold them together. Flip the pan and the rack so that the rack is on the bottom. The legs of the baking rack should pop down.
22. Stand the baking rack with the inverted cake over the paper towels/cookie sheet. The cake should fall onto the rack.
23. Gently remove the baking pan. Use the silicon spatula to remove and replace any dislodged or stuck pear topping.
24. Let cake cool 5 minutes before serving.
Comments
Post a Comment