The new baker: baked whole pear cake Using whole pears makes it faster to bring this cake together. Uncut, the fruit almost poaches in its own juices during cooking. If you can only find larger pears, core and quarter them and arrange flat on top of the cake before baking. This will make the cake more pudding-esque. The cake can be made with a variety of fruits. If you use plums or apricots (stoned first), substitute ground cardamom or star anise for the nutmeg. 150g (5½oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature plain flour, to dust 140g (5oz) plain wholemeal flour ¼ tsp freshly ground nutmeg 1 tsp baking powder 200g (7oz) caster sugar 2 large eggs, at room temperature zest of ½ orange 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 tbsp rum (optional) 8 small pears, or 6 medium-sized, quartered and cored icing sugar, to dust In a medium-sized mixing-bowl mix together the flour, nutmeg, baking powder and ½ tsp salt. Set aside. Using a hand-held electric mixer or a standing electric mixer, beat together the remaining butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and add the eggs, one at a time, beating as you go. Add the orange zest, vanilla extract and rum (if desired). Fold in the dry ingredients before spooning the mixture into the prepared tin. Stand the pears up in the cake batter evenly around the tin, or flat on the top if you are using quarters. Dust the top with icing sugar. Bake for an hour until a toothpick or skewer comes out clean or with moist crumbs. If after 35 minutes the cake looks as if it is browning too much, cover with parchment, making holes for the stalks. Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes before removing it from the tin. Serve warm with crème fraîche.