This aromatic Spiced Pear and Orange Frangipane Cake gives tea time a little lift with its sticky fruit topping and lighter sponge. Deceptively easy to make and a real centrepiece.

Spiced Pear and Orange Frangipane Cake
5 juniper berries, bruised with the back of a knife
1tsp ground cinnamon
5 cloves
4 tbsp Streamline Orange Marmalade
3-4 pears depending on their size, peeled cored & sliced (we used Blush pears)
150g unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
100g self-raising flour
100g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
Crème Fraîche to serve
- Heat the oven to 180C/ 160C fan/ gas 4.
- Grease the bottom of a 9inch spring form tin and line with greaseproof paper. Heat the juniper, cinnamon and cloves with the orange marmalade in a pan then add the pear slices and cook gently for 5 mins until they are soft. Set aside to cool.
- Whisk together the butter and sugar till light and fluffy, then whisk in the eggs one at a time. Use a large metal spoon to fold in the almonds, flour and baking powder.
- Pick the spices out of the pear juices and discard. Arrange the pear slices in the bottom of the tin along with just 2 tablespoons of the juices. Pour over the cake batter and bake in the oven for 30-35 mins until cooked through and the cake springs back when you touch the top.
- Take out of the oven and cool for 15mins then turn out onto a serving plate and peel off the greaseproof paper. Reheat the remaining pear juices and drizzle over. Serve warm or cold with a dollop of crème fraîche.
Note: Cook the pears gently so they don’t break up and adjust the cooking time depending on their ripeness.
Calories | 319kcal |
Sugar | 22.4g |
Fat | 20.1g |
of which saturates | 8.8g |
Salt | 0.4g |