Pear Crumb Cake

By Melissa Clark

Pear Crumb Cake
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
About an hour and a half, plus at least 2 hours to cool
Rating
5(830)
Comments
Read comments

When it comes to crumb cake, the cake itself is often an afterthought, with all the attention going to the moist brown-sugar crumbles on top. Not so here. This recipe, based on a sour cream pound cake, has a velvety texture and buttery flavor that’s good enough to stand on its own. Of course, the thick pile of large crumbs only sweetens the deal, as does the juicy layer of honey and lemon-spiked pears in between the cake and crumbs. You can bake this cake a day or two ahead; keep it loosely wrapped at room temperature (the refrigerator will make the crumbs soggy). And if you don’t like pears, feel free to substitute about a cup of any gently cooked fruit you do like – apples, fuyu persimmon, pineapple, blueberries, grapes, even leftover cranberry sauce – will all work nicely.

Featured in: A Sweet Crumb Cake for Your Thanksgiving Hostess

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Ingredients

Yield:8 to 12 servings

    For the Pears

    • 1tablespoon/14 grams unsalted butter
    • 1tablespoon/15 milliliters honey
    • 2small or 1½ large pears, cored and sliced ¼-inch thick
    • 1teaspoon/5 milliliters fresh lemon juice
    • ½teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
    • ½teaspoon grated lemon zest
    • Pinch of salt

    For the Crumb Topping

    • 1⅓cups/165 grams all-purpose flour
    • ⅓cup/65 grams dark brown sugar, lightly packed
    • ⅓cup/65 grams light brown sugar, lightly packed
    • 1teaspoon/8 grams ground cinnamon
    • ¼teaspoon/2 grams ground allspice
    • ¼teaspoon/1 gram fine sea salt
    • 1stick/113 grams unsalted butter, melted

    For the Cake

    • ½cup plus 1 tablespoon/133 milliliters sour cream
    • 3large eggs
    • 1tablespoon/15 milliliters vanilla extract
    • 1½cups/185 grams all-purpose flour
    • ¾cup/150 grams granulated sugar
    • ¾teaspoon/3 grams baking soda
    • ¾teaspoon/2 grams baking powder
    • ½teaspoon/3 grams fine sea salt
    • 1stick/113 grams softened unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)

517 calories; 26 grams fat; 15 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 66 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 35 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 305 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch cake pan; line with parchment paper and butter the paper.

  2. Step 2

    In a skillet, melt butter and honey. Add pears, lemons juice, nutmeg, zest and salt and sauté until the pears are just tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Cool.

  3. Step 3

    For the topping, whisk together flour, sugars, spices and salt in a bowl. Pour in the melted butter and stir until crumbs form.

  4. Step 4

    Whisk together sour cream, eggs and vanilla. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add softened butter and beat for 10 seconds to combine. Beat in egg mixture, continuing to beat until very smooth.

  5. Step 5

    Pour batter into pan and top with the pear slices, spreading them out evenly (if there is liquid in the pan with the pears, don’t add it). Use your fingers to squeeze together large crumbs from the topping and scatter evenly on top of pears.

  6. Step 6

    Bake for 50 to 65 minutes, until the cake is set and the center springs back when very gently pressed with a finger. A cake tester may come out with crumbs attached, but it shouldn’t be wet. Transfer cake to a wire rack and cool completely, at least 2 hours before serving. Cake can be made a day ahead.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
830 user ratings
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Comments

Sherman

OK guys. I exactly followed the recipe and I'm considered a good cook but lousy on the pastries. The cake came out great and even more flavorful the next day. My ONLY comment would be to use double the pears. I used two small pears as suggested and would like the cake even more with a thick layer of fruits.

JG

When you combine the flour with the butter first, the fat in the butter surrounds the flour particles, preventing them from taking on too much liquid later so less gluten is developed. Also there are fewer bubbles, so you get a more tender cake with a fine crumb but it won't rise as high. Basically it creates a cake with a different texture.

Patty

I made this in a bundt pan. I buttered the pan, put the crumb in, then pears then the batter. I also put any juice from cooking the pears into the batter. It came out lovely and moist and you could taste the pears throughout the cake. The crumb came out crunchy and just right. Try it. The cake didn't last long!

Tracy

I substituted plain yogurt for the sour cream and cut the sugar down in the cake batter, and the crumb topping. I also used GF flour and it worked beautifully, very moist cake. Lovely as a dessert or with coffee in the morning. I agree more pears are better. I layered two pear slices deep on top. The 10 inch cake pan worked beautifully. Anything smaller would be too small to adequately hold the batter.

YOI

Used plums instead, and I had three. It would have been good if I topped up with more plums to taste the fruit. What I wasn’t happy was the amount of crumb it used. It was just way too much to layer the 30cm pan. The crumbs shouldn’t be too thick.

Rik

Made it as described after reading some comments. Oddly the pears ended up at the bottom of the cake, and the crumb right in the middle - as if I layered it. Still delicious! Going to try again - maybe give the batter 20 minutes in the oven before layering on the pears and crumb.

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