Pear Cake Recipe Using Fresh Pears

We are not big pear eaters. I hardly ever buy them, so a pear cake recipe, using fresh pears non-the-less, may surprise you. There’s a bit of a story here that also illustrates a couple of frugal living principles perfectly. Hang in there with me and we’ll get to the cake recipe shortly.

Doesn’t that look delicious? It made buying those pears worth it and I might stay on the lookout for more deals on buying this particular fruit. Let’s get back to the story and the frugal living lesson.

Never Buy Things Your Family Doesn’t Eat

This one trips a lot of people up, me included. I am usually pretty good about only buying what we will actually consume on a regular basis, but every once in a while the allure of a deal or the promise of a frugal meal will get the better of me. It happened with a type of canned ham that I’m still trying to figure out what to do with and of course it happened with these pears. It can also happen when you’re at a produce stand or the farmers’ market and you get a deal on say butternut squash. Great, if your family likes it, not so great of a deal anymore if no one eats it. The same goes with beans. Pinto beans are an amazing frugal staple. But if your kids and your spouse won’t eat them, they are a waste of money, time, and effort.

Use It Before You Lose It

Here’s my second frugal tip for you. These pears were getting pretty ripe. I knew we wouldn’t eat them all in time, no matter how much I reminded everyone they needed to be eaten. And let’s face it, there are only so many pears I can eat in a day. It was time for Plan B, which usually involves cooking or baking something with whatever food is about to go bad.

Thankfully, I remembered that there was an old family recipe for a simple pear cake. I couldn’t remember if it used fresh or canned pears. I started digging around and to my delight; it uses fresh pears. It’s a pretty old recipe and is usually baked in a cast-iron skillet. Which worked out perfectly since we are moving and my trusty skillet was one of the first kitchen items I unpacked.

Remember this the next time you see something you bought being on the verge of going bad. Get creative and make something with it. Like this cake.

Here is my pear cake recipe using fresh pears. You can substitute canned if you’d like. They will be even softer than they are in this version, but it won’t hurt anything.

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Here’s what the cake looked like before it went into the oven.

And here’s the after shot. I would have loved to add a dusting of powdered sugar to the top, but since we’re in the middle of moving house, I didn’t have any, or a fine sieve to dust it with. Which was fine since the cake was just for us. If I’m making this for company, I’m adding powdered sugar, or serving it with some vanilla ice cream, or spiced whipped cream. Yum!

Got apples instead of pears? This apple crisp is a family favorite and perfect when you find yourself with extra apples that need to be used up.

Ready for more tried-and-true baking recipes? I’ve combined four of my most popular Kindle cookbooks for desserts and baked goods into one bundle for you. This flaky pie crust recipe is from the pie cookbook that’s part of this bundle. Enjoy!

Cookies Cakes & Pies

This is a collection of four of my most popular baking cookbooks. All recipes are easy and fun to make. Bake up some warm and gooey cookies, make a few pies for the holidays, or try your hand at some fun dump and poke cake recipes. You’ll find plenty of ideas for the next bake sale, family gathering, or a homemade treat for the family.

Get it on Amazon.