Spiced Pear Cake with Brown Butter Buttercream and Chai Salted Caramel

This Spiced Pear Cake with Brown Butter Buttercream and Chai Salted Caramel is filled with fall spice flavors and fresh pear, and the brown butter buttercream adds the perfect balance of nuttiness and sweetness! The chai salted caramel brings another layer of warm spice flavor, sweetness, and a touch of saltiness! The pears on top are poached in a little apple cider and star anise. Such a showstopper!

This year I’m continuing the tradition of sharing a cake on the blog on my birthday! People laugh at me because I always make my own birthday cake, but I truly LOVE to do it! I get such joy out of it, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Today is my 27th birthday (how?!?!), and I wish I could share a slice of this with each and every one of you!

I’m obsessssed with this year’s cake to say the very least! I really loved last years cake – it was this Spiced Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Buttercream and Apple Cider Bourbon Caramel. Oh my gosh is it good. I actually made it last week for a friend, and if you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I showed the process of how to make it on Instagram stories! I actually saved it to my highlights in my profile if you want to watch!

But this year’s cake – I love just as much, if not more. It’s incredible!

We’ve got a spice cake with fresh grated pears in it, a brown butter buttercream frosting (OMG YES), a chai spiced salted caramel sauce drizzled over the whole thing (sooooo good), and pears poached in apple cider and star anise to top the whole thing off!

It might seem slightly labor intensive, (which it kind of is), but if you enjoy making desserts, and have the time, you will LOVE this cake.

Poaching the pears is super simple, and requires no time. You just peel them, and simmer them in apple cider, water, and a couple star anise pods. When we ate this cake, we cut up the pears and had them alongside and it was delish! I want to make them more often because they’re so simple and good!

Don’t even get me started on this caramel. I make it the same way I make my regular salted caramel, but I add cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg to make it even better and to fill it with chai flavor!

If you love chai as much as I do, this stuff will be dangerous for you. I couldn’t stop eating a spoonful of it every time I passed by it. The fact that it’s salted too just makes it that much better.

As you can probably see, I very generously drizzled the whole thing with the caramel, but you can use as much as you want!

And maybe even make a double batch of it to keep on hand this holiday season for desserts and cocktails!

If you want to make this ahead of time, you can definitely do it. The caramel can even be made a few days in advance, and kept in a sealed container, and you can definitely make the cake layers ahead of time too. I’d make them up to a day in advance, and just keep them wrapped tightly.

The buttercream and the pears should be made day of, but if you wanted to get extra ahead, you could brown the butter in advance, and just keep it in the fridge until you’re ready!

It can be done!

I haven’t even showed you the texture of this cake yet! It’s so moist from the fact that I put grated pears in it, buttermilk, vegetable oil instead of butter (we have enough butter in the frosting!), and I used a lot of brown sugar too which helps with extra moisture and caramelly flavor. I loaded up on the spices too, so this isn’t a subtle spice cake. You definitely taste them, which I absolutely love!

I always end up doubling and/or tripling the spices when I made recipes from other places, because I never think there’s enough! I want to taste allllll of those amazing fall spices.

The brown butter buttercream is crazy good and SO worth it. I have a similar version in my cookbook that’s coming out next year, only it’s a brown butter CREAM CHEESE frosting. I really can’t wait for you guys to try it. It’s sinful.

This version is just as good without the cream cheese, and it has that nuttiness that I love about brown butter, while being balanced with the sweetness of the frosting and the vanilla. Really special!

All around, this is just a showstopper of a cake. I love it so much!

Thank you for indulging with me on my birthday, and as I start my 27th year, I just want to say thank you for being here! It means more to me than you’ll ever know. 26 was one heck of a year, and it will be a tough one to beat!

I wish I was starting my day with that bite!

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Spiced Pear Cake with Brown Butter Buttercream and Chai Salted Caramel

This Spiced Pear Cake with Brown Butter Buttercream and Chai Salted Caramel is filled with fall spice flavors and fresh pear, and the brown butter buttercream adds the perfect balance of nuttiness and sweetness! The chai salted caramel brings another layer of warm spice flavor, sweetness, and a touch of saltiness! The pears on top are poached in a little apple cider and star anise. Such a showstopper!

Course Cake, Dessert

Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes

Servings 10 -12

Author Molly | Spices in My DNA

Ingredients

For the cake

• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 pears, peeled and grated

For the chai salted caramel

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the poached pears

• 3 cups apple cider
• 1 cup water
• 2 star anise pods
• 5 small pears, peeled*

For the brown butter buttercream

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• pinch of salt

Instructions

For the cake

1. Preheat oven to 350℉. Butter and flour three 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper as well. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and cardamom. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, vegetable oil, and buttermilk until smooth. Fold in the grated pears. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined. Divide the batter among prepared pans and smooth out the tops with a rubber spatula. Bake for 22-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans for 20 minutes, then cool for the rest of the way on a wire cooling rack.

For the chai salted caramel

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil over high heat. Cook until the sugar is dissolved, but DO NOT stir! Swirl the pan on the stove if you need to. Continue cooking, without stirring, until an amber caramel forms, about 6-7 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully stir in the cream, and continue to stir until smooth. Add the butter, vanilla, spices, and salt, and stir until combined and the butter is melted. Let cool.
   

For the poached pears

1. Add the apple cider, water, and star anise pods to a medium to large saucepan. Bring to a boil and add the poached pears. Reduce heat slightly and simmer for 20 minutes, or until pears are tender.

For the brown butter buttercream

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once it has melted, start whisking constantly. Watch carefully, it can burn easily if you don’t keep an eye on it! The butter will start to bubble and get a little foamy, and develop a golden brown color with a nutty aroma. This can take several minutes, just keep whisking and make sure it doesn’t burn. Once you see the brown bits start to appear, keep cooking for a minute or so until the butter is browned. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Place bowl in the freezer to firm back up to room temperature butter. This can take 20 minutes or so. If it gets too firm, place it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it back up.

2. Add softened browned butter to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat for 2-3 minutes on medium to medium-high speed or until light and fluffy. Lower the speed and gradually add the powdered sugar. Once powdered sugar has been incorporated, add the vanilla, heavy cream, and salt and increase speed to medium-high. Beat for an additional 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
   

To assemble the cake

1. To assemble the cake, place one layer on a serving plate or cake stand, and spread the top with buttercream. Top with another layer and spread top with buttercream. Top with the third layer and spread with another layer of buttercream, leaving a little bit left for the sides of the cake. Use the leftover buttercream to "half" frost the sides, to create a "semi-naked" effect. Use an offset spatula or bench scraper to smooth out the sides of the cake. Pour the chai caramel over the cake and let it drip down the sides (you might not use it all, just use your desired amount!). Top the cake with the poached pears. Slice and serve!
   

Recipe Notes

*I used D'Anjou pears here, because they were the smallest I could find, and they work better for the top of the cake, but you can use whatever you like, just as long as the pears aren't huge!
*If you want to make this cake ahead of time, you can definitely do it. The caramel can be made a few days in advance, and kept in a sealed container. The cake layers can be made up to a day in advance, and kept wrapped tightly. The buttercream and the pears should be made day of, but if you wanted to get extra ahead, you could brown the butter in advance, and just keep it in the fridge until you're ready!

poached pear method adapted from martha.