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Walnut, Pear and Espresso Cake (The Cake Slice Bakers)

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Walnut Pear Espresso Cake

It’s November (!) and we’re winding down the year of baking through The New Way to Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi. What a wonderful, tasty ride it’s been!

If you’re looking for amazingly unique cakes, you’ll want to pick up this cookbook and open your mind to new combinations of flavors.

Today I’m making the Walnut, Pear and Espresso Cake (called Hazelnut, Pear, and Espresso Cake in her cookbook).

Walnut Pear Espresso Cake

You’re thinking, ‘Espresso with Pears…?” It’s almost like having a delicious little piece of this cake with a side of coffee. But the coffee is in the cake!

Oh, and if you’ve ever read many of my posts, you’ll know that hazelnuts and I have a good and evil relationship. Hazelnuts being the evil one. Long story, but in my younger years I once ate too many hazelnuts and to this day can’t be near them. Use them if you’d like.

What do I like about this cake? It’s tasty, soft and not too sweet. It uses one bowl, one baking pan and a few utensils. Stir the batter together and pour it in the pan.

Walnut Pear Espresso Cake

The most time-consuming part of Walnut, Pear and Espresso Cake is dicing the pears. My Bosc pears were particularly juicy and slippery, so I had to be very careful with the knife. A cake decorated with a thumb is not a pretty thing.

I am so happy to be a part of Cake Slice Bakers and to have had the opportunity to discover this great cake cookbook. Again, the recipes have a few unusual ingredients, but there are substitutes you can use. Or find your local ethnic groceries, wander around, and experience something new!

Other Delicious Cakes from The New Way to Cake:

Walnut Pear Espresso Cake
 

Slice of Walnut Pear Espresso Cake on a white plate

Walnut Pear and Espresso Cake

Yield: 8 slices
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

One-layer pear cake with a scent of espresso.

Ingredients

  • 2/3 C walnuts (or hazelnuts), plus extra to decorate
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 C plus 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/3 C all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp instant espresso powder
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 C butter, melted
  • 4 Bosc or Conference pears, divided

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9" round cake pan and fit a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan.
  2. Pour the walnuts or hazelnuts onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Toast them for 8 minutes, tossing half-way through roasting. Remove them from the oven and set aside to cool.
  3. Turn the oven down to 350°.
  4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla until combined. Stir in the flour, baking powder, espresso powder and cinnamon and mix well. Pour the butter in the bowl and combine until smooth.
  5. Peel, core and finely dice 2 of the pears, lightly patting them dry if overly wet. Chop three-quarters of the walnuts or hazelnuts. Gently fold in the pears and nuts, then pour the batter into the prepared pan.
  6. Cut the remaining 2 pears in half and core (with the skin left on). Slice the pears thinly and place them in a nice pattern on top of the batter, overlapping the slices. Sprinkle the batter with the remaining nuts.
  7. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the cake is risen and rather firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. It will pull away from the edges a bit. Turn the cake out onto a rack (removing the parchment paper) and let cool completely, about an hour.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

Original recipe uses hazelnuts, but use whatever nut you have/want.

After you pour the melted butter into the batter, stir it in well.

Careful when slicing the pears - they can be slippery.  

To core the pears easily, use a melon baller to scoop it out.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 340Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 116mgSodium: 256mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 2gSugar: 6gProtein: 6g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© Benjamina Ebuehi
Category: Cakes
 
 

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The New Way To Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th – never before – we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

 
 

It is a new year and a new book – The New Way To Cake – and our choices for November 2020 were ~ 

 
 

Hazelnut, Pear & Espresso Cake

Hot Chocolate and Halva Pudding

Double Ginger and Grapefruit Cakes

 

Small Batch Coffee-Toffee Cookies

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Coffee Toffee Cookies

At the beginning of every year, I put together a list of “to make” recipes. This year’s list ranges from appetizers to main meals, sides, cakes and cookies. This year’s list is incredible and I’ll be cooking/baking from Cook’s Country, America’s Test Kitchen, Taste of Home, the new Joy of Cooking, and Southern Living. Not to mention several Pinterest recipes I’ve had pinned for years now, as well as some recipes from the old standby family cookbook. I’m excited to bring these delicious recipes to you and hope you get to make a few of them!

Let’s get going by making these Small Batch Coffee-Toffee Cookies from America’s Test Kitchen’s The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook. I’ve made so, so many recipes from this cookbook and appreciate the smaller portions so we don’t have to eat quite as many leftovers or waste food by throwing it out.

Coffee Toffee Cookies

I adapted these cookies just slightly by adding a bit more flour because the batter was a little stickier than I thought it should be. The end result is soft, lightly sweet, definitely coffee-flavored cookies with crunchy, buttery Heath toffee bits. I increased the amount of toffee bits, too, because I love the flavor.

This Small Batch Coffee-Toffee Cookies recipe makes 12 very large cookies, or 15 large cookies. It’s supposed to be for two people, so I guess that’s fair – 6 to 7-ish cookies apiece? OK, you don’t have to eat them all at once and can save some for later. Of course after I tasted two cookies for quality control and then one while I was taking photos, there weren’t that many left for Bret. Poor guy.

Coffee Toffee Cookies

I really love these soft, coffee-flavored cookies. They’re also a lovely cappuccino-y color. The original recipe calls for espresso powder, but try finding espresso powder in Grand Prairie, Texas. I substituted about half of what it called for with instant coffee granules. Just be sure and make sure they’re dissolved in the water very well before adding the rest of the ingredients.

These are terrific cookies that I’ll definitely make again. I can’t eat too many, though, or I won’t be able to sleep at night. Wonder if decaffeinated instant coffee will work?

Coffee Toffee Cookies

Coffee Toffee Cookies

Small Batch Coffee-Toffee Cookies

Yield: 12 large cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 13 minutes
Total Time: 28 minutes

Quick and easy soft, lightly sweet, coffee-flavored cookies with a hefty helping of toffee bits mixed in.

Ingredients

  • 1 C plus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3 tsp instant coffee granules (or espresso powder)
  • 2 tsp warm tap water
  • 1/2 C plus 2 tbsp sugar
  • 5 tbsp butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 C plus 1 tbsp Heath toffee bits (plus another tablespoon for sprinkling on top of dough)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In another medium bowl, whisk the instant coffee and water together until the coffee is dissolved. Whisk in the sugar and melted butter until combined. Then whisk in the egg and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the 1/4 C and 1 tbsp of toffee bits.
  4. Working with 2 tbsp of dough for each cookie, roll the dough into balls and space at least 2 inches apart on the prepared pan. Sprinkle the tops with the remaining toffee bits and slightly press them in without flattening the balls of dough. (If you have cookie dough left in the mixing bowl, put it in the refrigerator while the first pan of cookies is baking.)
  5. Bake the cookies until the edges are slightly set, but the centers are still soft and puffy, about 13 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet halfway through baking.
  6. Cool the cookies on the cookie pan for about 5 minutes, then move to a rack to cool completely. These cookies are best completely cooled at room temperature. Store cookies at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

The original recipe calls for 4 teaspoons of espresso powder.  I think this would be overwhelming, but if you're reeeeaaaaaallllllllyyyyy into coffee flavor, knock yourself out.

The original recipe also calls for unsalted butter, but I always use salted.

The dough is sticky and will firm up a bit after you blend in the toffee bits.  Just roll it up the best you can.  

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 72Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 124mgCarbohydrates: 4gFiber: 0gSugar: 4gProtein: 1g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© America's Test Kitchen
Category: Cookies