Brown Sugar Pear and Almond Snack Cake
A soft, buttery one-bowl cake studded with juicy fresh pears and topped with sliced almonds and a crackly brown sugar crust. Easy enough for a weeknight and lovely with coffee the next morning.
1 hr 20 mins
2 batches of 9
Ingredients
- Nonstick Cooking Spray, for the pan
- 1 cup Sour Cream, or plain whole-milk yogurt
- 4 Pears, ripe but firm, Bartlett or Bosc, peeled, cored, and diced
- ¼ cup Turbinado Sugar, or granulated sugar
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 ½ cups Light Brown Sugar, packed
- 4 Eggs, large
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ cup Slivered Almonds, sliced, plus 1 tablespoon
- 2 tablespoons Powdered Sugar, for dusting, optional
Directions
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Coat an 8x8-inch baking pan with cooking spray and line it with a parchment sling.
- In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, then the yogurt, vanilla, and almond extract.
- Sprinkle the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt over the wet mixture and stir gently with a spatula until just combined.
- Fold in about three-quarters of the diced pears. Spread the batter in the pan.
- Scatter the remaining pears over the top, then the sliced almonds and turbinado sugar.
- Bake 38–45 minutes, until golden and a toothpick in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool in the pan at least 15 minutes, lift out with the parchment, and cut into 9 squares. Dust with powdered sugar if you like.
