LOCAL CHEF RYAN BROKENBROW'S RECIPE
Pear & Ginger Cake
Delicious, sweet poached pears are hugged by rich spiced ginger sponge in this special vegan recipe. The pears are so juicy they will steam the cake from the inside and prevent it from drying out.
Ingredients
- 175g x plain flour
- 140ml x almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 75g x black treacle
- 75g x golden syrup
- 75g x dark brown sugar
- 80g x dairy-free spread
- 1 tbsp x ground ginger
- 1 tsp x mixed spice
- ½ tsp x bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch of salt
For the poached pears:
- 4 x small pears
- 250g x caster sugar
- 2 litres x water
- 4 x cloves
- 4 x cardamom pods
- 1 tsp x vanilla extract
- 3 x bay leaves
- Peel from ½ an orange
Print this recipe
First poach the pears: Put the sugar, water, cloves, cardamon, orange peel and bay leaves into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Peel the pears, add them to the liquid and reduce the heat to a simmer for 20 minutes. Then remove the pears, from the mix. strain out the spices and reduce to a sticky syrup.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan/gas and line a loaf tin with baking paper.
Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the almond milk and set aside.
Sift the flour, mixed spice, ginger and salt into a large mixing bowl.
In another saucepan, heat the treacle, syrup, butter, and brown sugar with 30ml of water in a pan over a low heat until melted – don’t let it boil! – then remove from the heat.
Beat this syrup mixture into the flour until it becomes a smooth batter.
Add the bicarbonate/milk solution and mix together – the batter will be fairly runny.
Pour the batter into the lined loaf tin.
Sit the poached pears up, along the middle of the loaf tin, with the batter surrounding them.
