This simple recipe for Gluten-Free Pear Cake will quickly become one of your favorites! Fragrant with cinnamon and laden with juicy pears this is an unfussy yet special cake.
Gluten-Free Pear Cake Recipe
A cake with fruit tucked into the batter is one of my very favorite kinds of cake to bake. This gluten-free pear cake ticks all the boxes - it's sturdy, holds up well to being baked in a tube pan, is never dry, and is flush with a layer of chopped pears mixed with cinnamon.
This cake came into being as an apple cake. When I decided to turn it gluten-free I decided to use pears instead of apples. The gluten-free flour base is made with almond flour, which is a lovely flavor complement to the pears - they just seem made for each other, don't you think? You can of course use apples instead but I love the delicate sweetness pears bring.
A nice feature of this cake is that it's dairy-free, so if you're sensitive to dairy you'll have no worries when eating this cake. It will take over an hour to bake so make sure to plan accordingly and don't fret if the cake seems to take a while to fully bake. As with many gluten-free cakes, the baking time can go longer than a cake made with regular flour. The end result is more than worth it.
Why You'll Love This Recipe for Gluten-Free Pear Cake
Here are a few reasons why I love this recipe!
- Just 3 gluten-free flours are needed. The naturally gluten-free flours needed to make this gluten-free pear cake include almond, sorghum, and tapioca flours (see substitution suggestions below). The almond flour creates a sturdy crumb that's balanced by the whole-grain sorghum flour and a bit of starchy tapioca keeps the cake light. More about gluten-free flours.
- Simple ingredients. As always, I believe in real food ingredients in my baking and cooking! So the ingredients list for this cake is short and familliar.
- Versatile. This cake is easily made into a gluten-free apple cake with the substitution of chopped apples for pears! You could also play around with the ground spices, using ground ginger or cardamom for the cinnamon, or a combination.
What You'll Need to Make Gluten-Free Pear Cake
Be sure to check the recipe card at the end of this post for the full ingredient amounts and instructions.
- Almond Flour
- Sorghum Flour
- Tapioca Flour
- Sugar
- Baking Powder
- Salt: Use fine sea salt or table salt.
- Eggs: Large eggs.
- Coconut Oil: You could use vegetable oil instead.
- Apple Juice
- Vanilla Extract
- Pears
- Ground Cinnamon
- Brown Sugar
How to Make Gluten-Free Pear Cake
- Prepare the pan. Grease a tube pan lightly with coconut oil.
- Combine the flours. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Whisk in the wet ingredients. Whisk in the eggs, oil, apple juice, and vanilla extract, then use a spoon to make sure the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are well incorporated. Let the batter rest while you prepare the pears.
- Prepare the pears. Peel and core the pears, then cut the pieces into ¼-inch chunks. Mix the pears with the cinnamon and brown sugar.
- Make the cake. Spread half of the batter in the tube pan and sprinkle half of the apple mixture evenly across it. Add the rest of the batter and top with the remaining apples. Heat oven to 350 F and let batter rest while the oven heats.
- Bake the cake. Place pan in the oven and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes-1 hour 30 minutes, checking frequently, until a tester inserted comes out clean, the top is slightly firm when gently pressed, and the edges are starting to come away from the pan.
- Cool the cake. Remove the cake from oven and cool in pan for 15 minutes on a wire rack, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
Substitution Suggestions
It's not hard to make ingredient substitutions! Here's how to do it:
- Almond Flour - Swap teff flour.
- Sorghum Flour - Substitute oat flour or buckwheat flour.
- Tapioca Flour - Use potato starch or arrrowroot.
- To Make Refined Sugar-Free - Substitute maple sugar for the sugar and coconut sugar for the brown sugar.
Storage Options
Store leftover cake, well-wrapped in the fridge, for up to five days. Eat slices cold from the fridge or bring to room temperature before serving.
Recipe
Gluten-Free Pear Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups/210 g almond flour
- 1 ¼ cups/140 g sorghum flour
- ½ cup/80 g tapioca flour
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 large eggs, lightly beaten at room temperature
- 1 cup coconut oil, melted
- ⅓ cup apple juice
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 pears
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
- Grease a tube pan lightly with coconut oil.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Whisk in the eggs, oil, apple juice, and vanilla extract, then use a spoon to make sure the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are well incorporated. Let batter rest while you prepare the pears.
- Peel and core the pears, then cut the pieces into ¼-inch chunks. Mix the pears with the cinnamon and brown sugar.
- Then, spread half of the batter in the tube pan and sprinkle half of the apple mixture evenly across it. Add the rest of the batter and top with the remaining apples. Heat oven to 350 F and let batter rest while the oven heats.
- Place pan in the oven and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes-1 hour 30 minutes, checking frequently, until a tester inserted comes out clean, the top is slightly firm when gently pressed, and the edges are starting to come away from the pan.
- Remove from oven and cool in pan for 15 minutes on a wire rack, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Cake will keep, well wrapped in the fridge, for up to five days.
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