Whole Wheat Pear Cake
Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons salted butter (dairy and non-dairy butter both work)
1 ¼ cup milk (cows milk or plant based milk both work)
½ teaspoon almond extract, optional
½ teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
15.25 can of pears, syrup or juice from the can reserved
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with baking spray or line with parchment paper.
Drain the pears, reserving ¼ cup of the syrup. (You won't need the rest of the syrup.)
If the pears are in large pieces, cut them into slices.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and ½ teaspoon cinnamon until combined. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender, two knives or clean hands, until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
Whisk the almond extract into the milk and pour it over the flour mixture. Toss with a fork until just combined. Do not overmix.
Use a spatula to scrape the batter into the cake pan. Smooth the surface with the spatula until the batter is even and reaches the edges. Arrange the pears on top in a circular pattern.
Whisk the reserved heavy pear syrup with the remaining extracts and brush some on the pears and batter (you will brush more on later, after it bakes.) Sprinkle the cake with the remaining ½ teaspoon of cinnamon. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Transfer the hot cake pan to a wire rack and let it cool for 15 minutes. Brush it again with some pear syrup.
Remove the cake from the pan, placing onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
Serve the pear cake as is, or with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.
Keep the cake covered at room temperature for up to five days (but if you have any cake with whipped cream on it, store it in the refrigerator).