Pear, Ginger & Lemon Loaf

Pear and ginger make a very good loaf cake, particularly when the pear is ripe enough to soften into the crumb as it bakes. Lemon icing stops the finished cake becoming too sweet and gives the ginger a bit more room to come through.

Like most loaf cakes, this is just as welcome with a cup of tea the following day, assuming there is any left.

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 60 mins

Total Time 1 hr 20 mins

Cuisine: British

Courses: Desserts & Sweets

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 10

Description

A softly spiced pear and ginger loaf finished with an irregular lemon icing and crystallised ginger.

Ingredients

175 g butter or buttery baking spread (softened, plus extra for greasing)
1 ripe Conference pear (peeled and cored)
165 g light brown soft sugar
3 medium eggs
175 g self-raising flour
1½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp fine sea salt
40 g crystallised stem ginger (roughly chopped)
2 tsp lemon juice (for the icing)
50 g icing sugar (sifted)
crystallised ginger (optional, roughly chopped to finish)

Instructions

1
Heat the oven to 170°C / 150°C fan. Grease a 900g loaf tin and line it with baking parchment.
2
Cut the pear into roughly 1cm pieces.
3
Beat or process the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, ground ginger and salt just until evenly combined. Fold through roughly three-quarters of the chopped crystallised ginger.
4
Spoon half the batter into the tin and scatter over half the pear. Cover with the remaining batter and distribute the rest of the pear over the top, pressing the pieces very lightly into the mixture.
5
Bake for about 1 hour, until well risen and a skewer inserted into the cake rather than a piece of pear comes out clean.
6
Leave in the tin for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
7
Stir the lemon juice gradually into the icing sugar to make a thick icing. Drizzle irregularly over the cold loaf and finish with a restrained scattering of chopped crystallised ginger.

Nutrition Facts

Servings 10

Amount Per Serving
Calories 310.48kcal

% Daily Value *
Total Fat 15.75g25%
Saturated Fat 9.48g48%
Cholesterol 86.73mg29%
Sodium 86.77mg4%
Potassium 99.62mg3%
Total Carbohydrate 41.29g14%
Dietary Fiber 1.25g5%
Sugars 9.77g
Protein 3.48g7%

Vitamin C 1.04 mg
Calcium 76.01 mg
Iron 0.74 mg
Vitamin D 0.26 IU

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Note

Keep airtight for up to 3 days. Individual slices can be frozen.