What do you do when you have fruit desperately in need of consuming (in cake form, naturally) but no eggs?

This; one of my all time favourite emergency cake fall backs. (Because sometimes, there really is a cake emergency)

I found it one day when I had to wanted to bake a cake but had no eggs. What I have found is the basic recipe is completely versatile, you can mix and match to create different cakes each time.

On this occasion I had 6 pears that had suddenly ripened when I wasn’t looking, and had started looking sorry for themselves. It was no good. It was a cake or the bin. And well. There isn’t much of a contest is there.

I pondered what was good with pears. Chocolate is good with pears (well, lets face it, chocolate is good with everything) so I added 3tbsp of cocoa powder (Amount based on nothing, just a random decision. I also think using real chocolate would be fab if you happened to have some) and instead of 2tsp mixed spice I chose to crush up 4 cardamom pods worth of seeds. (I have recently been getting into cardamom as a spice and it goes right lovely with chocolate and pear).

While I melted my ingredients in the saucepan on the hob, I wondered how I should deal with the pears. Should I put them in the base of the cake tin, or mix the pieces in with the batter? Due to the delicate, fally aparty nature of the overripe pears, I opted for putting them into the bottom of the cake tin, I felt the risk of fruit dissolving in the mix was too high.

Once the ingredients in the pan have cooled (and it is important to let it cool. I am impatient and have been known to add the flour early, and while nothing terrible happens, no world ending, sky falling, dogs and cats living together, it does start to cook from the residual heat so… you know… patience is a virtue blah blah blah) I added the flour, poured the mix over the pears and popped it in the oven.

Once cooked and cooled I turned it out and was rather pleased with the result. The top half with the pears was soft and moist (as I am used to recipe being) and the bottom half, without the moisture from the fruit had become rather brownie like. It was great; a crumbly brownie bottom with a moist peary top. Nommy.

Recipe Bit:

Chocolate and Pear

150g sugar

125g butter

3tbsp cocoa powder

4 cardamom pods: seeds crushed.

250ml water

225g self raising flour

pinch of salt

300(ish)g pears

Basic destruction

Preheat the oven to 350° / Gas mark 4.

Place sugar, butter, cocoa, spice and water in a saucepan and heat gently till the butter melts. Try not to let it boil (which can happen if, like me, you get distracted easily). While the melty contents of the pan cools, slice your pears and place them in the base of your cake tin. Sift the flour and salt into the cooled mix and combine. Pour into the tin over the pears. Bake for about an hour.

Basic No Egg; For Adaptation

Here is the basic recipe for you to play with. I often end up using banana and blueberry since those are fruit we most often have lying around. But I have made it with apple and apricot, stem ginger with a darker muscavado sugar and some of the stem ginger syrup, and often use teas rather than plain water. Let me know if you create any good variations.

150g sugar

125g butter

2tsp spice of your choice

250ml water / tea / liquid you feel like using

225g self raising flour

pinch of salt

300-350g any kind of fresh or dry fruit

Basic destruction

Place sugar, butter, spice, fruit and water in a saucepan and heat gently till the butter melts. When the contents of the pan has cooled sift in the flour and salt and combine. Pour into tin and bake for about an hour.



VP