Pear Pinwheel and Hazelnut Cake

This is my first bake for the event, The Home Bakers organised by Joyce, Kitchen Flavours and I pledge to bake as much as I can like a retro-style home baker. LOL!

For this event, we are baking all recipes from one book, "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas until every recipe has been baked from this book. This book has 60 recipes and we will bake one cake in every 3 weeks.

THB started since 3rd Apr 2012 and I felt kind of ashamed of myself that I have missed out THB's first three bakes. Lucky me that THB is a free and easy baking club and glad that I have not been "kicked-out" of this club due to my absences.

For the 4th THB bake, I've chosen this recipe, Pear Pinwheel and Hazelnut cake. I think this cake is very interesting to bake. I realized that no baking powder is used in it and its overall flat look and nutty texture is more like a tart but a tart without any pastry crust or base. I've used a small amount of Frangelico, a hazelnut liqueur instead of almond extract to enhance the taste of this cake. Unfortunately, I can't taste the difference with or without the added Frangelico and all I can say is that the cake is overall very moist and delicious.

For the fun of this bake, I was trying hard to be Zoe the retro baker, beating the cake batter using a wooden spoon and wanted to store this cake in one of my retro-style Tupperwave that was "pinched" from my aunt at my recent Singapore trip. Check out my Tupper-SEAL... this is quite retro and cute!

The pears that I used to bake this cake

My miniature Frangelico

Making this cake

Taste really moist and nutty. Yum!

I wish I am. LOL!

Being part the rule of this event, only the host of the chosen bake can include the recipe in her blog post and the host of this specific bake happens to be me.

And, so here's the recipe from the book, Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas
(with my modification in blue)

1 cup hazelnut or blanched almond (I used hazelnut meal)
2 tbsp unbleached all purpose flour
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (reduced to 30g for half amount of recipe)
2 large eggs
1 tsp almond extract (replaced with 1 tsp Frangelico for half amount of recipe)
3 large pears (I used Bosc) peeled, halved and cored 
(only required 1 for half amount of recipe)
2 tbsp confectioners' sugar
1/4 tsp freshly grated or ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350°F (or 160°C fan forced). Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.

Scatter the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 min, or until lightly toasted. If using hazelnuts, wrap them in a tea towel and rub to remove the skins. In a food processor, combine the nuts and flour and process until finely ground.(I used hazelnut meal, pre-roasted with flour at 150°C fan forced for 7 min)


In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer until light and fluffy (I used the wooden spoon). Add the eggs, one at a time, and almond extract (or Frangelico) and beat until smooth. Mix in the nut mixture. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Cut the pears into slices 3/8 inch thick and place in a bowl. In a small bowl, combine the confectioner's sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir to blend. Sprinkle the fruit with confectioners' sugar mixture, toss to coat, and arrange in a pinwheel on top of the batter.

Bake for 30 to 35 min, or until the cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the pan on a wire rack and let the cake cool completely. Remove the sides of the pan and cut the cake into wedges to serve.

Using half the recipe, I've baked this cake in a 12 cm loose bottom round pan at 160°C fan forced for 30 min.

This post is linked to The Home Bakers (8 Jun 2012). Due to my family commitment, I was unable to post this on 8 June 2012 and had brought forward the posting date to 7 June 2012. My apology for any inconvenience caused. To see the other THB members' bakes, please go to THB website.

THB with a retro look

 Happy Baking

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