Autumn pear cake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 250 g butter, room temperature
• 200 g sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 packet vanilla sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 4 eggs
• 220 g flour
• ½ pack of baking powder
• Milk, as needed
• 700 g pear(s), ripe
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick(s)
• 1 star anise
• 150 g butter, soft
• 5 tbsp powdered sugar
• 200 g cream cheese
• 4 tbsp pear juice

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 4 hours

wonderfully spicy with cinnamon and star anise, for a 24 or 26 cm springform pan, approx. 12 pieces

First, prepare the sponge cake layers. I prefer to do this the night before and let them cool overnight. To do this, cream the butter with the sugar, vanilla extract or vanilla sugar (or vanilla bean/vanilla paste/etc.), and salt until creamy. Then gradually add the eggs. Finally, briefly fold in the flour and baking powder. The batter should spread easily, but not be too stiff. If it isn’t, simply add milk until the desired consistency is reached. Divide the batter into 4 roughly equal portions and fill the first portion into a springform pan or cake ring lined with baking paper (I used a 24 cm, but 26 cm works too) and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 12 minutes. Do the same with the remaining 3 layers and let them cool thoroughly. For the pear layer, peel the pears and cut them into small pieces. Place the pieces in a saucepan along with the lemon juice, sugar, and spices. Cover the fruit and simmer for about 10 minutes over medium heat. The pears should then have turned into a kind of puree. If the pears aren’t ripe yet and are therefore still very chunky, I simply help them along with a potato masher. Finally, remove the spices and, depending on the consistency, let the puree drain in a sieve if necessary. Next, for the cream cheese frosting, cream the warm butter with the powdered sugar until creamy. Then briefly stir in the cream cheese and pear juice. Now the cake is ready to be assembled. Place the first layer on a cake plate and enclose it in a cake ring. Spread the pears on top. Then add another layer, a third of the cream, then another layer, and the second third of the cream. Finally, place the last layer on top as a lid. Now place the cake in the refrigerator for about 1-2 hours to set. Then remove the cake ring, spread the last third of the cream over the cake, and decorate as desired. Cut the cake into about 12 slices.