Honey Cakes With Pears And Sauce

This allows each person to have their own small cake. It is a recipe for 8 people. It can be you and 7 family/guests or friends OR 8 of you….that means you really like it and don’t want to share. Shame on you! Lucky you!

 

Poached Pears

• 1 bottle of Gewurztraminer white wine
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1  3 inch long piece of fresh ginger, sliced
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 4 pears, peeled, halved and cored

 

Bring wine, sugar, ginger, cinnamon sticks and lemon juice to a boil in a heavy sauepan. Add pear halves and simmer until just tender (12 minutes). Drain well.

Transfer to a work surface and slice lengthwise in 1/2 inch wide wedges. Place 1 sliced pear half  in each of the ramekin cups and fan out.

 

Cakes

• 1  1/2 cups flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• pinch of ground cloves
• 1 cup honey
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter 8 ramekin cups.

Whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda and cloves in a bowl to blend. Using your eletric mixer, blend together the honey and butter in a large bowl to completely blend. Beat in the sour cream.

Add the dry ingredients and beat to blend. Pour a generous 1/3 cup over the pears and bake for about 25 minutes, until golden . Cool slightly and invert on pretty dessert  plates.

 

Caramel Sauce

• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup whipping cream

Stir the water, sugar and lemon juice over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and  WITHOUT stirring watch it until it becomes a deep amber (7-8 minutes). Swirl it around the pan and remove from heat.

Slowly add the cream (it will bubble up). If you find any hard caramel bits, simply reheat on low and stir. Drizzle, generously, over the cakes.

Yum, Yum, Yum.