Autumn. When I talk to people about the taste of autumn, apples tend to come up quite frequently. But in the shadow of apples, there’s another fruit of autumn that deserves some attention. Pears. This wonderful, sweet tasting fruit is perfect for baking, so for my first recipe, my first appearance, I present to you my spiced up pear cake.

Ingredients
150 gram (5 1/2 oz) softened butter 
100 gram (3 1/2 oz) sugar
3 eggs
150 gram (5 1/2 oz) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
4-6 peeled pears

Frosting
200 gram (7 oz) cream cheese
1-2 tbsp softened butter
4 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar

Decoration
Chopped almonds

How I do it

1. Peel and chop the pears. Put the chopped pears in a bowl and add cinnamon and cardamom. Mix it all well together.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 ºC/355 ºF. Butter and line a 22-24 cm/ 9 in round cake tin (and/or use parchment paper).
3. Beat together sugar and softened butter in a large bowl. I use a stand mixer, but you may just as well use an electric hand mixer. 
4. Add eggs, one by one and adding about a tablespoon of the plain flour between each egg. 
5. Mix in a mixture of the rest of the flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar, and mix until you have a smooth batter. 
6. Add the spiced up chopped pears, and mix them into the batter with a spatula.
7. Transfer the batter into the cake tin.
8. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 40-45 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a skewer put in the centre of the cake comes out clean. 
9. Let the cake cool down for about 15 minutes before taking it out of the cake tin. 
10. For the frosting, mix together cream cheese and softened butter. Carefully add powdered sugar and vanilla sugar into the mix until you have found the preferred sweetness and texture. 
11. When the cake is about room temperature, cover the top of the cake with the frosting.
12. Decorate with chopped almonds.

Enjoy!