We live in a happy cul-de-sac consisting of seven homes. There are 15 children in our cul-de-sac, ranging in age from 1 to 20. Our quiet, little corner is a haven for kids playing football, jumping bikes off ramps and playing hide-and-go-seek. It’s definitely an ideal place to be if you’re looking for suburbia. The neighbors are pretty darn nice. Case in point: Neighbor A backed into Neighbor B’s car the other day. The bumper was smashed up pretty good, and Neighbor A felt awful… so A brought B a basket full of fresh pears to apologize. Neighbor B brought some of those pears to me, and I made Spiced Pear Cake with Browned Butter Icing. I told you it was a happy cul-de-sac, didn’t I?
Oh yeah, see that icing drizzle? It’s a must… an absolute must. And you get more bang for your buck with this recipe since it makes TWO cakes 🙂
I opted to make this recipe in two loaf pans because I like to change things up a bit and make cakes in “tea cake” fashion now and then. I think it works best for this recipe. The cake bakes up much like banana bread, but it’s too sweet to call it bread. So it’s CAKE, my friends.
Here’s the super yummy part: BROWNED BUTTER ICING. Do not leave off the icing. Seriously, don’t do it. It’s so so so easy to make, and you will want to eat it by the spoonful before you even drizzle it onto the cake. Not that I’m advocating that or anything, but it certainly gives you a good idea of how delicious this stuff is.
Remember I mentioned that this recipe makes TWO cakes? Well, that nice neighbor who gave me the pears ended up getting them back again in one of these cakes. Yep, I gave her a cake. That happy-neighbor-thing is just kind of sickening to hear, isn’t it?
A little slice of this cake… with those spiced pears flecked throughout… and just the right amount of browned butter icing drizzled on top… is a perfectly nice dessert for fall (and for the abundance of fresh pears available right now). Use the rest of your pears to make my friend’s Pear Buttermilk Breakfast Cake. It’s delicious too!
