CRUMBLY OLIVE OIL, ROSEMARY & PEAR CAKE

This is the first time I have made this cake. It is not your 'traditional' cake but I really liked it. It is not too sweet and goes really well with the mascarpone. Nice for morning or afternoon tea. Put splash of maple syrup or date syrup on the mascarpone and you'll bring it to a higher level 😁.

I used brown sugar instead of caster sugar, and it gave the cake this darker colour when cooked.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour

3/4 cup (120g) wholemeal or spelt flour

3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups (310ml) fruity extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 small pears, peeled, cored, cut into 1cm pieces (to give 2 cups)

2 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

1/4 cup (35g) currants

Mascarpone, to serve

Maple syrup, to serve (optional)

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180C.

Grease a 26cm, 3cm deep loose bottom tart pan.

(I didn't have a tart pan so I used a normal loose-bottom cake pan. Make sure you put the cake pan on top of a baking dish covered with oven-proof paper. Otherwise, you will have some oil leaking from the cake all over the oven!!!)

Stir together flours into a bowl. Add sugar and baking powder.

Beat eggs, olive oil and vanilla, then add to the flour mixture, stirring to combine.

Gently fold through pear, rosemary, and currants (with any soaking liquor, if using).

(I soaked the currants in Marsala, but only the time it took me to get the rest of the ingredients ready - about 30 min. They recommend to soak them overnight with Marsala or brandy!)

Spoon batter into tart pan.

Bake for 55 minutes or until cake is golden and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve warm or at room temperature with mascarpone mixed with a bit of maple syrup (if using).

Serves 6-8

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