Saturday, May 1, 2010

Sour Cream and Quince Cake

This is a recipe from Matthew Evan’s latest book ‘The Real Food Companion’. I made it with quinces from my friend Chris’ garden and served it with poached quinces and sour cream. Rob, who is not really a cake fan, gave it a score of 11/10!!

Recipe for poached quinces to follow.
Matthew says that the sour cream adds a smooth richness, the pears (or quinces) – add moisture, and the crumble is thick and crunchy with walnuts.
Ingredients
125g softened butter
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
100g sour cream
100g self raising flour, sifted
150g ground almonds
2 pears cored and peeled, cut into 1cm dice
Walnut Crumble
150g butter chilled, cubed
135g plain flour
80g soft brown sugar
75g walnuts, crushed
Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease a 23cm round spring-form cake tin and line the base and side with baking paper.
   To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar until pale and light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in the sour cream. Fold in the flour and the ground almonds, just until it’s an even consistency. Fold through the pears and spoon the mixture evenly into the base of the cake tin.
   To make the walnut crumble, use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour and sugar (or pulse in the food processor), until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the walnuts.
   Sprinkle the walnut crumble over the top of the cake and bake in the centre of the oven for about 60-70 minutes; test with a skewer. The cooking time can vary depending on the type and ripeness of the pears and your oven. It should be moist in the centre, but not doughy. Rub your fingers up the skewer to make sure – if you have any wet mixture on your fingers, give it another 5 minutes.
   Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely (Don’t invert the cake).
  

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