The Busy Baker

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Pear Streusel Cake

desserts

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This Pear Streusel Cake is the perfect fall and winter dessert with an easy-to make tender cake base and a delicious streusel topping – make it with fresh or canned pears for an easy dessert!

Pear Streusel Cake with cinnamon and pears

Pear Streusel Cake Pinterest

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Pear Streusel Cake in green pan with powdered sugar

Happy weekend friends! I’m so glad to be sharing this delicious Pear Streusel Cake recipe with you today!! You all have LOVED my other streusel-style cake recipes I’ve posted in the past, like this Rhubarb Streusel Cake and this Peach Streusel Cake, so I just knew this Pear Streusel Cake would be a big hit for this fall and winter season! In case you’re as big a fan of streusel-anything as I am, I’ve also shared these Rhubarb Streusel Muffins, these Blueberry Streusel Muffins, and these Peach Cobbler Muffins too!

Like the look of this recipe? You’ll love this Chocolate Layer Cake or this Classic Carrot Cake!

Pear Streusel Cake in green pan with cinnamon sticks

There’s just something so special about a cake like this Pear Streusel Cake – we’ve been living in Europe for a number of years now and many Europeans have no time for traditional North American cakes made with mountains of frosting. That’s just not a thing here, and if I had a dollar for every time someone said “it’s too sweet!” after trying one of my North American-style cakes here, I’d be rich. But my baking style is slowly evolving and I’m embracing less sugary desserts like this Pear Streusel Cake that are just as rich and tender and delicious as anything from my home continent.

Pears are the perfect fruit for fall and winter, and this Pear Streusel Cake recipe is versatile enough that you can use fresh or canned pears! It’s such a simple dessert that you are going to LOVE!

Pear Streusel Cake with cinnamon sticks on plate

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Pear Streusel Cake with cinnamon sticks on plate

I hope you love this Pear Streusel Cake as much as we do! Let me know in the comments below, what’s your favourite way to enjoy pears? I’d love to know!

 

 

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5 from 10 votes
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Pear Streusel Cake

This Pear Streusel Cake is the perfect fall and winter dessert with an easy-to make tender cake base and a delicious streusel topping - make it with fresh or canned pears for an easy dessert! 

Course Baking, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American, Baking, Cake, European, German
Keyword Pear Streusel Cake
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 47 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 2 minutes
Servings 12 slices
Author Chrissie (thebusybaker.ca)

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature (full fat is best)
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter for greasing the cake pan
  • 3-4 fresh pears, peeled and thinly sliced (alternatively, use an 850 ml large can of canned pears)

For the streusel topping:

  • 2/3 cup all purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 4 tbsp melted butter
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

  2. Add the butter and the sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and beat them together until the mixture is fluffy and becomes a pale colour (about 4-5 minutes). It's important that the butter is at room temperature before you begin. This will allow it to integrate properly with the other wet ingredients.

  3. Feel free to use a hand mixer and large mixing bowl if you prefer.

  4. Add the eggs and the vanilla and beat them in on medium speed until the mixture is smooth. It's a good idea to scrape down the bowl periodically to make sure everything is incorporated evenly.
  5. Add the milk and sour cream and beat in these ingredients on low speed until they're combined.
  6. To a separate bowl add the flour, the baking powder and the salt and mix these ingredients together with a fork or a wire whisk. Once they're all incorporated, dump the flour mixture into the bowl of the stand mixer with the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and watch the batter come together. As soon as you see the batter form with streaks of flour throughout, turn off the mixer and remove the bowl.
  7. Over-mixing at this stage can cause an overly dense and dry cake with large air bubbles, which you definitely don't want. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl by hand and gently fold in the remaining flour. Be sure to stop folding as soon as everything is combined.
  8. Grease a 9x13 rectangular glass cake pan with some butter and pour the batter into the pan, using the spatula to push the batter into the corners and even out the surface. Don't worry, the batter will seem thick but it's supposed to be like that.

  9. Spread the sliced pears over the top of the batter.

  10. In a clean bowl mix together the flour, sugar and cinnamon for the streusel topping. Add in the melted butter and mix everything together with a fork until the mixture becomes crumbly.

  11. Sprinkle the streusel mixture over the cake and the pears, making sure to spread it at evenly as possible and into all the corners.

  12. Bake the cake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 47-50 minutes. When it's finished baking the topping will be slightly browned on top and when you insert a toothpick into the centre of the cake it will come out clean.

  13. Try to let the cake cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes before cutting into it...if you can wait that long!

Recipe Notes

This cake is best the day it's made, but it stores well at room temperature for up to 2 days in an airtight container.

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Comments

  8. This looks delicious! Have you ever put spices into the cake batter itself? Just wondering if it would overpower the pears? I’m a nut for extra spice in things haha!

    Reply

    • Yes, you absolutely could! I’m a purist when it comes to this cake recipe, and I do think it might overpower the pears as they are so mild in flavour.

      Reply

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