Loaded with pears, perfectly sweet and melts in the mouth – this Super Moist Pear Cake recipe is divine! Whether you are that person who loves to have a piece of cake with your cup of tea or coffee, or just that person who has a sweet tooth for cakes anytime during the day or after a filling meal, I am sure this will satisfy your cravings.
This cake is the perfect go to cake recipe. It’s so moist and delicious, you will want to make it over and over again. Made with simple cake ingredients and overripe pears, this cake will be a staple in your family’s household.
If you are looking for simple and delicious cake recipes, try my Pear Bundt Cake, Super Moist Blueberry Bundt Cake, No Bake Chocolate Cake, Molten Chocolate Lava Cake , and this Blueberry Lemon Bread recipe.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this Moist Cake recipe
- Convenient: This recipe is not only easy to make, but it’s made with simple ingredients found in your pantry.
- Tastes perfect: This recipe was tested many times. The sweetness is perfect, the flavor is perfect, the texture is so moist, it melts in your mouth with very bite.
- Very adaptable: You can make this recipe with any kind of fruit you want. Test with your some of your favorite fruits and choose your favorite.
Ingredients needed to make a Pear Cake
- AP Flour- I find that this works best for the recipe.
- Sugar– I like using granulated cane sugar
- Confectioner Sugar– Perfect for dusting because it melts in your mouth.
- Butter– Makes the cake soft.
- Vegetable Oil– Also adds moisture to the cake.
- Baking Powder– Helps the cake rise.
- Vanilla Extract– To add a delicious hint of flavor.
- Eggs– large eggs, any kind works.
- Milk– I like using whole milk to keep the cake rich.
- Pears– Use your overripe pears. Any kind works, as long as it’s ripe and peeled. I like using green pears.
- Salt– to balance the flavor.
- Lemon Zest– Always a great addition to any baking recipe.
- Toppings: Brown sugar and cinnamon powder.
How to make a Pear Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Peel and slice the Pears. Set aside.
- In an electric mixer bowl, whip up the sugar and softened butter until well combined for about 1 minute.
- Add in the vanilla, lemon zest and eggs. Continue mixing on high speed for 1-2 minutes until they are well combined.
- Add in the baking powder, sifted flour and a pinch of salt. Mix again for about 1 minute. Gradually add the milk and oil while mixing on low speed. Mix for another minute or two on low speed. Batter should be thick.
- Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and grease or spray a round spring foam baking pan then pour the batter into the pan. Ideally, a 10 x 3 inch deep pan is the best size.
- After placing the batter in your pan, spread a layer of the sliced pears to cover the whole batter. Sprinkle some cinnamon and the brown sugar on top of the pears.
- Bake in a pre-heated 350 F oven for 1 hour. Depending on your oven and thickness of your pan, it might take extra baking time. If your cake is brown before it gets cooked on the inside, cover with aluminum foil and continue to cook for the rest of the time. Try not to over bake the cake so doesn’t dry out. Always insert a wooden skewer to make sure it’s completely clean before removing the cake out.
- Remove the cake from the oven and cover with a kitchen towel to let it cool down. It may take up to 1 hour. Dust with some confectioner sugar right before serving.
Recipe Tips:
- Always use room temperature softened butter.
- If you are not serving right away, I recommend not dusting the cake right away. The moisture of the pears will absorb the sugar. Dust the cake right before serving.
- Only use real butter. No fake butters.
- Do not use a smaller pan other than what is recommended, which is 10 x 3″ round spring foam pan (easy release pan).
- Do not use under ripe pears. Always use soft pears, but not mushy pears
- Depending on your oven and thickness of the pan, the cake might take less or more time. Insert a tooth pick or skewer into the center of the cake to check if it comes out clean.
- You may add nuts or raisins right before the pears before baking, if you like. Just dust them with a little bit of AP flour before doing that.
- If you like pears in your cake batter, add 1/2 cup of ripe pureed/mashed pear in the cake batter before baking. It may just take a few more minutes to fully cook over the normal cook time.
FAQ’s for making a moist pear cake
Always use overripe pears to make this cake moist. The juices from the pear gives so much moisture to the cake. Also, always use real, whole fat butter. This also helps with the cake’s texture. Never use butter substitutes.
Prepare the pears by peeling, then slicing in half from the stem end to the bottom. You can then use a small spoon to scoop out the seeds and also remove that tough, thin spine that runs up to the stem end.
This pear cake is great on its own. It can be served warm, room temperature, or cold from the fridge. It’s also great with a scoop of ice cream, coffee, tea or a dollop of whipped cream!
I highly recommend peeling the pears before baking, as their skin grows tough when heated.
Well of course, make this pear cake! If you have way too many, you can always bake a cake for your neighbor or a friend.
Yes, you can absolutely freeze this pear cake. However the texture of the pear slices will change a little after freezing. I would also wrap it very well to preserve any freezer burns, which will dry up the cake. You can freeze for up to one month. But this cake will not last more than a couple of days, so I highly doubt you will need to freeze it. It will be gone in no time.
Mouthwatering sweet treats to try
I hope you enjoy all the recipes I share with you, including this delicious Super Moist Pear Cake recipe. I hope you try it, enjoy it, rate it, and share it with your friends and family!
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Super Moist Pear Cake
Equipment
- 10 x 3 inch Round Spring Foam pan (Easy Release) changing pan will change cook time.
- Oven I use a normal electric oven with fan. Using different types of oven will change cook time.
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups cake or all purpose flour sifted
- 1½ cup sugar fine granulated white sugar
- ½ cup butter soft, unsalted
- ⅓ cup canola oil or vegetable oil
- 3 tsps. baking powder
- 1-2 tbsps. vanilla extract per preference
- 4 whole eggs large
- ½ cup milk whole fat
- 3 whole ripe pears peeled and thinly sliced
- ⅛ tsp. salt Just a pinch
- 1 tsp. lemon zest (optional)
- 2 tbsps. confectioner suger for dusting after baking
TOPINGS before baking:
- 1/4 cup brown sugar or less as desired
- ¾ tsp. cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Peel and slice the Pears.
- In an electric mixer bowl, whip up the sugar and butter until well combined for about 1 minute.
- Add in the vanilla, lemon zest and eggs. Continue mixing on high speed for 1-2 minutes until they are pale and and fluffy.
- Add in the baking powder, sifted flour and a pinch of salt. Mix again for about 1 minute. Gradually add ½ cup of milk and ⅓ cup oil while mixing on low speed. Mix for another minute on low speed. The batter should be thick. Not runny.
- Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and grease or spray a round spring foam baking pan then pour the batter in. Ideally, a 10 x 3 inch deep pan is the best size. Changing pan will alter cooking time.
- After placing the batter in your pan, spread a layer of the sliced pears to cover the whole batter. Sprinkle some cinnamon and the brown sugar on top of the pears.
- Bake in a pre-heated 350 F oven on the middle rack for 1 hour. NOTE: If your cake becomes golden on the outside at around 45 minutes and the cake is still pretty runny on the inside, cover the cake with aluminum foil wrap and tuck the sides a little and continue to cook the cake for another 15 minutes. Insert a wooden skewer to make sure it's completely clean before removing the cake. It may take less or a bit more time depending on your oven.
- Remove the cake from the oven and cover with a kitchen towel to let it cool down. It may take up to 1 hour to completely cool down. Dust with some confectioner sugar right before serving.
Video
Notes
-
- I use electric oven on normal BAKE mode. Not conventional or any other specific type of oven. Different types of ovens will result in different cook times and result. That is not within my control. Insert a tooth pick or skewer into the center of the cake to check if it comes out clean.
- If your cake is brown on the outside and runny still on the inside, cover with aluminum foil and continue to bake.
- Always use room temperature softened butter.
- If you are not serving right away, I recommend not dusting the cake right away. The moisture of the pears will absorb the sugar. Dust the cake right before serving.
- The recommended pan size is 10 x 3″ round spring foam pan (easy release pan). Anything else used, will alter the cooking time.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted in March 2019 and updated with new photos.
Manuela says
I LOVE this recipe! I tweaked it a bit by halving the sugar in the cake batter and replacing a cup of flour with almond meal. Obviously ok if you’re not allergic to nuts. It still comes out super moist and beautifully sweet.
Mariam E. says
Hi Manuela!
Thanks so much for leaving a review. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Manuela Bon says
I LOVE this recipe. Have tweaked it myself by replacing 1 cup of flour with 1 cup of almond meal. Ok if you’re not allergic to nuts. I have also halved the sugar content and it is still beautifully sweet.
Mariam E. says
Hi Manuela!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for leaving the review.
Samia says
Just made this! It looks and tastes amazing🤩 so rich and flavorful. Thank you for sharing! Appreciate that you left a note on using less sugar it was just right for me and my family❤️.
Mariam E. says
Hi Samia!
Thanks for leaving a review. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Nomsa says
Thank you so much. I made this for mother’s day and it tasted AMAZING!!!! It was so Fluffy and burst with flavor
Mariam E. says
Hi Nomsa,
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe and it worked out well for you. Thanks for the review.
Gaye Nickles says
I always fiddle with recipes, and I always read the comments. This time, however, I made this recipe almost exactly as written. 40 minutes was perfect + 15 covered with foil. Skewer came out clean, the pears stayed on top, and the cake is golden brown. I used up some overripe pears and they came to life in this recipe. But as I said, “almost exactly as written”: I used 1 3/4 tsp of vanilla and a 1/4 tsp teaspoon of almond extract. Almond extract may be my signature baking flavor. In all likelihood, I will sprinkle the cake with sliced almonds after I dust it with confectioner’s sugar. Though I am tempted to sprinkle the sugar while the cake is warm so the almonds stick in what would become a light glaze. (BTW: I did not have to adjust for my high altitude. I’m in the Sierra foothills at 5200 ft.)
Mariam E. says
Hi Gaye!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe and adapted it to your liking! Thanks for the review and for adding some extra tips for others.
Pattie says
Thank you for commenting on higher elevation, as it’s often different. I’m pretty new to having to consider elevation at 4500, so it helps to know no need to adjust.
Janice Soon says
Hi, I’m thinking of trying this recipe tonight. I’m just wondering if the use of canola / vegetable oil is for the purpose of having a neutral-flavoured oil? Could I use olive oil (which flavour I suppose might come through abit, and may even complement it) which is healthier?
Mariam E. says
Hi There,
Sorry I just saw this I wasn’t on last night. It’s because of the neutral flavor. If you prefer healthier you can use light tasting olive oil. The lightest you can find.
Darlene says
Hi! I want to try this recipe but I don’t have a springform pan. I do have several different sizes of bundt pans. Would this recipe work with a bundt pan? If so, would I need to tweak any of the ingredients to compensate for the bundt pan?
Mariam E. says
Hi Darlene,
I haven’t tried it but it will take a lot longer to cook. You will also have to cover with aluminum foil after it rises, this way the inside cooks well since it’s a deeper pan. Because the longer it cooks, the sides and top will get more brown and the inside will stay raw. You can use a normal round non-stick pan that’s the same size as recommended in the recipe and line the bottom with parchment paper. Also spray well with baking spray. Once you cook it, use a knife to detach the sides a little if stuck on the side of the pan and allow it to cool completely. Once it cools down well, use a plate to cover the cake, flip it over, and reflip it to another plate so the top is facing back up. Sprinkle with some powdered sugar and serve.
Cecily Muller says
I converted this to gluten free and is absolutely delicious. I served with whipped cream. Awesome, thank you 😋💖
Mariam E. says
That’s great to hear. So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for leaving a review.
Marie says
I had a bunch of pears nobody in my family wanted to eat, so I googled “pear cake” and came across this recipe.This turned out sooooo good. Even my son who doesn’t enjoy cakes loved this one. Definitely will be making again! I followed all the instructions as written, the only thing is I had to bake for almost 1.5 hrs. It is perfect!
Mariam E. says
Hi Marie,
Thanks for leaving a comment review! Sometimes cooking time will differ depending on the pan and the oven. But I am glad it worked out as you liked in the end.
maria kennedy says
this is a delicious cake— however the pears sank to the very bottom, saturated the paper and stuck to it beyond lifting. i would like to make this cake successfully- can you please help.
Mariam E. says
Hi Maria,
It’s very odd. Something must have gone wrong somewhere. The cake batter is thick, which doesn’t allow the pears to sink. They should be sliced very thin so they don’t sink from their weight, and the cake batter should be thick. No one has mentioned that problem before. I have tested it many times.
Leila says
Same problem as above — took much longer to cook than recipe says. Used 9″ springform pan.
Mariam E. says
Hi Leila,
9 inch is a smaller pan, so the batter will be more deep. It will take longer time. I recommend 10 inch pan, which I have tested many times. Cover the cake with foil wrap at around 40 minutes and cook for an extra 15-20 minutes. Also, all ovens are different so cooking time may vary for everyone.
Sarah says
I made this cake using Gluten-Free flour and it worked very well.
My family ate it all in one sitting.
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
It’s great !
Mariam E. says
Hi Sarah!
Thanks so much for leaving a rating. I am happy to hear you and your family enjoyed the recipe!