Pear and Pecan Coffee Cake

This may be one of my favorite pear desserts. I combined ripe pears with pecans and cinnamon sugar to create this moist and flavorful cake. I had both Bosc and Bartlett pears, but use whatever pears you have on hand. They should be ripe, but still firm. In the recipe directions I say to have the pears peeled and sliced, and ready to go in the cake. I actually made the batter first, then prepped the fruit. Mostly because I was distracted and forgot. It worked out just fine. The upside was that the pears did not have a chance to discolor, and I didn’t have to put them in lemon water until ready to use.

The cake is wonderful served all on its own, but I also enjoy topping it with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream.

Pear and Pecan Coffee Cake

1 c. oil- I like to use olive oil

4 eggs

1 t. vanilla

1/3 c. orange or lemon juice

3 c. flour

2 c. sugar

3 t. baking powder

¼ t. salt

3-4 pears, peeled, cored and sliced

½ c. sugar

1 T. cinnamon

¾ c. pecan halves or pieces

Grease a 9×13 inch pan. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Combine oil with eggs, vanilla and juice until well blended. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients and add to egg mixture. Beat together until batter is smooth. Batter will be thick. Combine the ½ cup sugar with the cinnamon. Set aside. Place ½ of batter in prepared pan. Arrange pear slices on batter and sprinkle on ½ of the cinnamon mixture. Pour on remaining batter and top with the pecans. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture. Bake 50- 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool before slicing. Serves 10-12.