Asian Pear Cake

Ingredients:

3 Asian pears
2 oranges
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup canola oil
4 large eggs
1 tbsp. baking powder
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. all spice powder
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350F. Slice the pears and set aside.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the eggs until they’ve lost their orange color and have become a bit paler, about 1 min. Add to the mix the juice of two oranges and the zest from one and whisk lightly. Now add the flour, spice mix, baking powder, sugar, vanilla and salt and mix completely. Once those ingredients are incorporated, slowly add the oil as you mix the batter. The result will be rather thick, sticky, and perfect for what is next.

Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. Take about a third of the batter mixture and lay down a nice coating on the bottom of the pan. This will actually be your top, so you want to make sure you’ve made a thick layer all the way around the base of the pan. Lay pear slices on top of your batter layer. Add another layer of batter and another layer of pear slices. You should get between 2-3 layers of pears. The final layer should be batter.

Place your pan in the oven and bake for approximately 90 min. To check for doneness, insert a toothpick in the middle and remove it. It should come out clean when the cake is done. Remove finished cake from the oven and leave it in its pan for at least 30 min. on a rack or other tray. Once sufficiently cool, you can turn it out onto a plate or simply leave it in its pan and cut slices from it. In either case, be sure to work slowly. Sprinkle slices with confectioners sugar and enjoy!

Banana Ginger Muffins
12 muffins

Ingredients:

300g self-rising flour
1 tsp ginger powder
115g brown sugar
75g crystallized ginger, chopped
60g unsalted butter
2 tbsp honey
125ml milk
2 eggs
240g mashed banana s

Topping:

125g cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp confectioner sugar
2 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

Preheat oven to 390 degrees F (200 C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan. Sift the dry ingredients.
Melt the butter and the honey. Beat the eggs with the milk. Mix the dry ingredients with the butter, the eggs, the crystallized ginger and the bananas with a spoon.
Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. Let stand in pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.