Winter-Spiced Pear Cake (Gluten-free)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter/grease a 9-10” cake pan.

In a small bowl, stir together the sucanat, cardamom, pumpkin spice blend and cinnamon. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the spice mixture to top the cake at the very end; add the rest into a large bowl with the butter.

Cream together the butter, maple syrup and spice mixture with a mixer, scraping down the sides of the bowl a couple of times as you go, for about 3 minutes total. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat to incorporate each egg.

In a separate medium bowl, sift together the coconut flour, arrowroot, almond flour, the baking powder and salt.

Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir on low until just combined. Add the coconut cream and vanilla, and mix on low until just combined. Finally, add the remaining dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. The mixture will be quite thick.

Now, remove the cores from the pears. Slice up one cup of medium sized pear cubes, and cut the rest of the pears into 1/2” wedges. Drizzle the lemon juice over the wedges to preserve them. Fold the pear cubes into the batter and transfer the batter to the greased cake pan. Smooth the top.

Take the pear wedges and fan them out around the cake, or create your own design if you like! Press them into the batter a little bit so that some of the batter comes through. Sprinkle the reserved spice mixture over the top of the cake.

Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out just barely clean, about 35-50 minutes. (Time varies depending on the oven). Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before cutting.

This cake is perfect with coffee, with breakfast, for an afternoon snack, or for dessert!

Enjoy!