Pear Cake with Blue Cheese Crumble

“洋梨のケーキ、ブルーチーズクランブル”

I love the appearance of each imperfect pear, standing proudly like a still-life painting, still reminiscent of the longing for Europe I felt during my pre-university art school days in Japan. I wanted to incorporate their natural beauty in this cake. I included whole pears in the cake batter, gently squeezing them in.

For a savoury twist, I added blue cheese to the mixture and topped it with more cheese and a crunchy oat crumble.

Ingredients for a 17cm x 5cm cake tin

Pear   2

Blue cheese   40g

Unsalted butter   80g(bring to room temperature)

Sugar   100g

Egg   2

Plain flour   100g

Almond flour   30g

Baking powder   1/2tsp

Salt   a pinch

For the crumbles

Unsalted butter   10g

Sugar   10g

Plain flour   10g

Rolled oat   15g

Ground Cinnamon   1/4tsp

Ground Cloves   1/4tsp

Salt   a pinch

Blue Cheese   20g

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line the cake tin with parchment paper.

2. Whisk the butter and sugar together until pale. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Sift the dry ingredients and fold them into the mixture.

3. Pour the mixture into the tin halfway. Press the pears into the mixture, leaving space between them. Arrange small chunks of blue cheese around the pears. Fill the gaps around the pears with more cake mixture. Drop the tin from a height of about 5 cm onto the worktop to release any air bubbles.

4. Melt the butter for the crumble in a bowl and mix with the remaining ingredients, except the cheese. Arrange small chunks of cheese on top of the cake and cover with the crumble, pressing it down so it sticks.

5. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a skewer can easily pierce the pear and comes out clean from the centre of the cake. After the cake has cooled, gently remove it from the tin.