This vegan spiced pear cake might be my absolutely favourite recipe for Autumn! It’s perfectly moist, packed with fresh pear and elevated with all your favourite seasonal spices!
Hi baking friends! If you didn’t already know I am absolutely obsessed with this time of year. There’s something really special about the colourful metamorphosis that nature goes through; it provides a great moment for comfort, warmth and reflection. I could talk for hours about Autumn but let’s jump right into this spiced pear cake!
Now this isn’t your typical spiced pear/apple cake, there’s a couple elements here. But don’t fret! You don’t have to do them all. I’m a bit of a crazy scientist and I always want MORE MORE MORE but this spiced pear cake without the buttercream and without the candied pears is absolutely delicious enough by itself.
Having said that, the pumpkin-spiced ermine buttercream is so so so good if you don’t make it with this recipe you absolutely must try it another time maybe on top of some cupcakes! It’s insanely good. If you need other ideas for using this buttercream then check out my cake archives for all my other favourite vegan cake recipes!
So the first question on everyone’s mind when you see a vegan cake recipe is – how did you replace the eggs? Well on this occasion I used applesauce! Applesauce functions beautifully as a mild binder and adds a tonne of extra fruity flavour too. The baking powder does all the extra heavy lifting that the eggs would otherwise be doing.
This recipe is super easy to whip up and requires no fancy equipment or ingredients. On this occasion I won’t write up a candied pear slices tutorial as there are many available online and I am no expert! If you would like some tips or if you don’t have success using other recipes then feel free to reach out and I’ll gladly help.
Baking tips:
For the pears going into the cake, cut them into 1cm cubes or smaller. Also, make sure you add them to, and coat them in, the dry mix before you add the wet ingredients. Having smaller pieces and coating them prevents them from sinking in the batter!
For this Autumn leaves pear effect I decided to make the cake a little taller by using two 6-inch cake tins instead of 1 x 8inch. Now I usually wouldn’t recommend layering pear or apple cakes because they are extremely delicate and a little heavier than usual sponge cakes. However, if you want this same effect then I would recommend use the same method I used. Otherwise please do just use a single 8-inch tin, I promise you it will taste just as good!!
As with most recipes, I recommend using a toothpick 10 minutes before the baking time is up. Make sure to poke in several places as you want an overall feel of doneness and a single poke might just pierce a pear chunk and not reveal the true texture of the bake.
This recipe can be made gluten-free by substituting the plain flour with a gluten-free flour blend and adding ½ tsp xanthan gum if the flour does not already include it! I recommend Dove’s gluten-free plain flour.
For this recipe you will need:
- 1x 8-inch spring form cake tin (or 2x 6-inch tins)
- electric whisk (for the buttercream only)
Vegan Spiced Pear Cake
This vegan spiced pear cake might be my absolutely favourite recipe for Autumn! It's perfectly moist, packed with fresh pear and elevated with all your favourite seasonal spices!
Ingredients
- Cake:
- 260g All-purpose (plain) flour
- 200g applesauce
- 2 pears, peeled and chopped
- 100g light brown sugar + extra for dusting
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 200ml soy milk
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 100g vegetable oil
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- Pinch of ground cloves/nutmeg/cardamom
- Pumpkin-spiced Ermine Buttercream:
- 300 ml plant milk
- 100 g All-purpose (plain) flour
- 10g pumpkin spice (or 6g cinnamon+1g of each powder: cloves, nutmeg, cardamom and ginger)
- 250 g light brown sugar
- 250 g vegan butter, room temperature
- (optional) 1 tbsp vanilla + pinch of salt
Directions
- Step 1 Cake layers: Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Line an 8-inch (or 2 x 6-inch) cake tin with parchment paper.
- Step 2 Sieve together all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt) in a large mixing bowl. Add in the chopped pears and coat them with the dry mix.
- Step 3 Add the apple cider vinegar to the soy milk to make a “buttermilk”. Allow to curdle for 5 minutes.
- Step 4 Mix the oil and applesauce into this buttermilk and then add all these wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir until completely homogenous.
- Step 5 Pour the batter into the cupcake cakes and sprinkle with brown sugar.
- Step 6 Bake for 75 minutes (for 8-inch cake, 60mins for 6-inch cakes). Check at the 60-minute (or 45-minute) mark with a toothpick to see if they are done.
- Step 7 Take the cakes out of the oven and leave to chill for 30 minutes before you turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Step 8 Buttercream: Mix together milk, flour and spice in a bowl with a whisk. Pour through a fine sieve into a pan on the stove and start heating on low-heat.
- Step 9 Pour in the light brown sugar and keep stirring until the mixture thickens.
- Step 10 Allow to simmer for at least 3 minutes. Mixture should be thick and pasty.
- Step 11 Turn off the heat and pour the mixture into a small bowl, covered with cling-film touching the surface to prevent crusting.
- Step 12 Add the butter to a stand-mixer with a paddle attachment and cream (on medium-high speed) until pale and fluffy. Reduce the speed to medium and add in the sugar paste a little at a time. Once fully incorporated, beat on medium for a further 5 minutes.
- Step 13 Decorate your cake with the ermine frosting and serve!
Delicious cake! It’s moist and easy to make. The candied pears and decoration will take a while, but the patience and hard work is worth the wow and yummy effect! (PS I used natural coloring for the pears, e.g. Turmeric, raspberry etc.)