Apple Pear Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
I love taking my favourite parts of existing recipes and combining them into something new. Case in point, this apple and pear cake which is based on one cake recipe, but uses apple pie spice and white chocolate cream cheese icing from other recipes.
Apple Pear Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
This cake is a great way to use up fall fruit that is past its prime. Decorate with some pecan halves and you have a lovely cake for a birthday, family dinner, or just because you feel like having cake. I cut the original recipe from Just So Tasty in half, which makes for some strange measurements, but I have a small family and like to keep to small cakes. To make two 8-inch cakes or one 9×13 cake, simply double the recipe.
Servings: 8 slices
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp apple pie spice See Notes, below.
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 6 tbsp granulated sugar
- 6 tbsp packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg, plus 1 1/2 tsp packaged egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup pear sauce, or store-bought applesauce See Notes, below.
- 3/4 cup grated apple
- 2 tbsp plus 2 tsp plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
- 3 oz white chocolate or equivalent weight in white chocolate chips
- 8 oz package of cream cheese, cubed, at room temperature
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly oil an 8-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and apple pie spice.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, sugars, egg, egg whites, and vanilla. Then add the pear sauce, grated apple, and yogurt and mix gently with a wooden spoon or spatula. (See Notes, below.)
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, then add the nuts, and fold everything together until just combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes or until done.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
- Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for about one minute, until softened but not thoroughly melted. Stir until it is smooth and let it cool to room temperature. See Notes, below, for attribution on this recipe.
- In an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter until creamy, about 2-3 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the icing sugar. Increase speed as needed to fully incorporate the sugar. Beat in cooled chocolate and vanilla.
- Refrigerate icing for about half an hour to help it set a bit. If you won’t be using it right away, refrigerate it for up to a week, but let it sit at room temperature before icing a cake so it is spreadable. (This icing also freezes well, in case you have extra.)
- To ice the cake, cut it half crossways. Add icing between the two layers, then ice the top and sides. You can do a crumb layer if you want a more presentable cake: ice the top and sides with a thin layer that will have visible crumbs, refrigerate for about half an hour or until the icing is set, then add another layer of icing that will cover any visible crumbs.
- Decorate the cake with pecan halves in any pattern you choose.
Notes
- I use and highly recommend this fantastic apple pie spice from My Baking Addiction. Mix a batch and put in a spice jar to use in baking, to jazz up plain pear or applesauce, toss into pancake or waffle batter, for oatmeal, or wherever else you might use cinnamon.
- I suggest pear sauce as a way to use up any pears you might have. I have a simple recipe here, or you can use applesauce.
- The original recipe says to use an electric mixer to combine the oil, egg, and sugar. I hate dragging out my mixer unless I absolutely have to, so I just whisked it all together. Be warned, however, that your brown sugar might clump up a bit. You can crush any large bits with a spoon. Or get out your mixer if you can handle the extra cleanup.
- This cake doesn’t really need icing, but where’s the fun in a naked cake? Any cream cheese icing will do, but my favourite incorporates white chocolate. It comes from this Chatelaine carrot cake recipe, which is, quite frankly, sensational. I adapted their recipe, cutting it in half to suit this cake better.
Image of cake by Elena Akifeva | Dreamstime