This Pear Chai Tahini Cake is super light, filled with whole sliced pears, and the perfect amount of chai spice flavor. It’s super easy to make, and it’s wonderful alongside a cup of coffee or tea – any time of day! It’s great for breakfast, an afternoon snack, or dessert!
This time of year, I am all about the chai spice. I still love pumpkin bread, but I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin spice everything that’s always the craze this time of year. But pumpkin in savory dishes, a million times yes. If we’re talking about sweet things and dessert, chai anything will always have my heart!
This cake is soooo good you guys omg. It’s so light, and it works for any occasion. Brunch? Absolutely. Second breakfast when your eggs and avocado just didn’t cut it? Of course. Mid afternoon snack with a much needed third cup of coffee? Yes. Dessert? Always.
It’s one of those cakes that doesn’t really feel like you’re eating cake. More of a snacking cake, if you will. The first time I made this, I ate 1/3 of the entire cake in a matter of minutes. And I didn’t feel gross at all. It’s not too sweet, which I love.
My most favorite part of this (other than the chai spice), is that there are WHOLE sliced pears nestled in the batter. You literally peel and core a pear, then thinly slice it, and lay it on top of the batter. It slightly sinks into the batter and bakes into the cake beautifully.
When you cut into it, you get huge pieces of juicy pears and it’s pretty much the most amazing thing ever.
This would probably work with apples too if you’re more of an apple person! Nothing beats a good honeycrisp for me this time of year, but I really love pears too! And they melt so perfectly into this cake.
The tahini in here just adds the perfect amount of nuttiness and slight sweetness! The other sweetness comes from brown sugar – I love using it in place of regular granulated sugar because it adds moisture and depth of flavor! Most times I’ll use a mixture of both, but I really love all brown sugar in this recipe.
And the dusting of powdered sugar makes it look super fancy, even though it’s probably the easiest cake I’ve ever made. It’s nearly one bowl, and incredibly simple. It’s one of those recipes you can throw together for impromptu guest visits in no time. Seriously comes together in minutes. The most time consuming part is peeling, coring, and slicing the pears!
It would be delicious warm with vanilla ice cream too, or some whipped cream!
Another thing I love doing to the powdered sugar, is adding some cinnamon and cardamom to it. Like a chai powdered sugar! Totally optional, but I’m always down for extra chai flavor.
All I want right now is this slice and a chai latte!
Pear Chai Tahini Cake
This Pear Chai Tahini Cake is super light, filled with whole sliced pears, and the perfect amount of chai spice flavor. It's super easy to make, and it's wonderful alongside a cup of coffee or tea - any time of day! It's great for breakfast, an afternoon snack, or dessert!
Ingredients
- 4 D'Anjou pears, peeled, cored, halved, and thinly sliced
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cardamom
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed
- 1/3 cup tahini*
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- powdered sugar for dusting*
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325℉. Liberally butter and flour a 9 inch springform pan. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Set aside. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and brown sugar until smooth. Add the tahini and vanilla and whisk again until smooth. Add the cream and whisk until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing with a rubber spatula until just combined. Pour into prepared pan.
Lay the halved, sliced pears on top of the batter, (it's ok if they sink a bit!) evenly. Bake for 1 hour 25 minutes or until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let rest for 20-30 minutes before removing from pan. Let cool, then dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*This
*You can mix a little cinnamon and cardamom into your powdered sugar for a little extra chai flavor, but it's totally optional!
cake adapted from here.
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