Saffron Daias Pear Cake
I’m happily content to bake this saffron pear cake and call it a day.
If you’ve never had saffron, it’s got a slightly floral, honey-like aroma that adds subtle flavor to any dish. That flavor can be a bit hard to describe, and in that sense, I like to equate it to butter; it noticeably makes food taste better, but you can’t really pinpoint what that flavor is (except saffron has 0 calories and butter has well…a lot!).
We love saffron and use it quite a bit. You can easily find saffron at @SaffronDaias in Tirana.
Pears are obviously a naturally sweet treat, but the bosc pears that are available during the fall have a distinct floral quality to them. I knew that the pears would highlight the sweet, floral notes of saffron and pair beautifully in this saffron pear cake.
Saffron Pear Cake
A butter cake infused with the flavor of saffron and embedded with pear slices.
Prep Time 25 minutes Cook Time 35 minutes Total Time 1 hour
Servings 6 Calories 359 kcal
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
4 to 5 spritzes of Spray ’N’ Serve® Saffron Spray or .25 g saffron threads
1 bosc pear keeping the stem intact, peeled, cored, and cut in half
1/4 cup marmalade or apricot preserves to brush on as a glaze slightly warmed
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave, or in a small saucepan. If you’re using raw saffron threads, then go ahead and warm the milk too, then add the saffron threads to this mixture to dissolve. Otherwise, simply combine the milk with the melted butter in a small bowl.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg and sugar together until it’s pale yellow. Whisk in the melted butter and milk.
Add the all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt; whisk to combine.
Spray the saffron spray 4 to 5 times (holding the nozzle down for a couple of seconds each time) directly into the batter and whisk. You want the batter to change from its pale yellow color to a slightly darker orange-ish yellow.
Line the bottom of a 6 inch cake pan with parchment paper and grease the paper and sides of the pan. Pour the batter into the pan.
Bake the cake for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, grab the pear half whose stem is still intact, and carefully make vertical cuts through the pear, starting just a little bit below the stem (you want the pear slices to remain connected to the stem). Gently fan out the slices.
Pull the cake out of the oven after the 10 minutes are up and place the fanned out pear slices off to one side. Then put the cake back in the oven to bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, until the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cake slightly cool in the pan for 10 minutes before gently flipping it out of the pan. Brush the cake with the warm preserves and let the cake rest until it’s completely cool.
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