THE STORY
This pears and blueberries gluten free cake is from a beautiful book.
I’m not sure if the book is so amazing, but it is bound to a beautiful moment, when in Milan, in July, I met two of my traveling companions of Gluten Free Travel & Living: Fabiana and Michela.
A perfect moment, when people meet and seems to always know each other, when we were looking for cookbooks and weighing them…. Actually weighing them: can you imagine what does it mean to have only 23 kg of luggage available, while you are going up and down the Atlantic Ocean?
A perfect moment of projects, idea, confidences, and total complicity.
A perfect moment needs to be a perfect gastronomic moment too, and it was delicious and gluten-free, in the CuocOna restaurant, where we basically made a camp, under the gaze of the generous Ornella and her husband, with the books purchased propped on a chair, as if they were precious guests.
The book in question is by Seriously good gluten-free bakery by Phil Vickery, and it contains many yummy gluten free recipes.
Phil Vickery is a chef and a food writer well known in Britain for his participation at cooking show on TV and the publication of several books, he obviously has good communication skills.
He has been specializing in gluten-free cooking for years and if only he would not go hunting, would also be nice, with that accent so British…
THE RECIPE
PEARs AND BLUEBERRIES CAKE, NATURALLY GLUTEN-FREE
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Ingredients:
For the cake
- 3 pears
- grated rind of 1 lemon + a teaspoon of juice
- 175 g butter at room temperature
- 225 g of brown sugar
- 3 medium eggs at room temperature
- 3 teaspoons of baking powder *
- 250 g of finely ground corn meal*
- 100 g of blueberries
For the frosting
- 25 g of butter at room temperature
- 300 g cream cheese *
- 50g icing sugar *
You will need:
- Knife for pears
- Electric mixer or a food processor
- A ladle or spatula
- A 20 or 22 cm square mold
- a wire rack
* May contain traces of gluten, look for products with the gluten free logo or consult the celiac assosiation list
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Line a 20 cm square mold (the original recipe says 22, but 20 it’s okay) with parchment paper.
Peel the pears and cut into cubes, sprinkle with lemon juice so they do not blacken.
Whip the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until it forms a soft cream,
Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring constantly.
Add the baking powder mixed with corn flour, half of the lemon zest and incorporate the ingredients well, without overbeating the batter.
Pour the pears into the mixture and incorporate gently, stirring with a wooden spoon or a spatula.
Transfer in the mold and distribute the blueberries on the top.
Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes (not 30 as the book says, at least in my oven I needed all that time, because the batter with all the pears remains very moist).
Prepare the cream topping: mix the butter and the cheese until creamy smooth and soft, add the sugar and whip thoroughly.
When the cake is cooked, let it cool in the mold and then take it off, and put out to dry on a wire rack. To remove from the mold (advice for dummies like me), put a plate on the mold and invert the cake, then lean over the wire rack and turn again).
Once very it is cold spread the icing on the cheese and
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THE NOTES:
You have to find a very very fine corn flour to get a result less rustic and a smooth texture.
The cake has only corn meal so it tends to crumble slightly.
Without the icing the cake will keep in an airtight container for a couple of days, but I recommend to keep it in the refrigerator.
You can use any fruit you want … apples, peaches.
And this is my participation in the Gluten Free Friday:
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