Reviewed: Apr. 17, 2010

Great recipe to play with. I made changes to make it a bit healthier. I used 2cups white flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour and instead of oil I used 1 cup unsweetened applesause, I added a teaspoon or two of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg and and a squeez of lemon, finally I halved the sugars to 1/2cup each and baked it in a bundt pan. Even though I lost track of time and slightly over cooked it, it still tastes great- very moist and flavorful, this would taste really good warm with a scoop of French vanilla icecream.

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Reviewer:

April D.

Cooking Level: Expert

Living In: Seattle, Washington, USA

Reviewed: Mar. 15, 2010

This is a very good cake and extremely easy to make. I took out the nuts and reduced the oil by 1/4 cup like had been suggested and it was moist and tasty - although a bit boring. I just added a simple caramel glaze, as I think icing would be a bit too heavy. Thanks to grandma for a great recipe!

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Reviewer:

Andria Shilliday

Cooking Level: Expert

Reviewed: Feb. 26, 2010

Great recipe, Rory. Moist, tasty and moreish. I followed the suggestions of: - adding ginger and cinnamon to dry ingredients - forgot to puree the pear mixture but was still fine - only needed to bake for an hour - added thin pear slices to top of cake before baking - used 1/2 C oil and 1/2C apple sauce.

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Reviewer:

Mrs Possum 08

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Living In: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Reviewed: Jan. 22, 2010

The batter for this cake was EXTREMELY sweet, so I was worried that it was going to be too much. But the finished product is delicious!! I used 5 VERY ripe pears instead of 4, which allowed me to cut the oil to 1/2 cup and still get a very, very moist cake. I also threw in half a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, just to add a little punch. Great cake -- very original.

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Reviewer:

neska

Reviewed: Jan. 3, 2010

Delicious! I used a bundt pan and coated it with cinnamon sugar. Next time, I will add more pears (I used four very ripe pears), use less sugar and add some cinnamon.

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Reviewer:

KnittingKittens

Reviewed: Dec. 11, 2009

I was slightly disappointed, but my coworkers loved it. I think the source of my problem with it was that I used sunflower seed oil (the main kind available here in Russia), which to my taste overpowered my gorgeously ripe pears, but the texture was perfectly moist (after a little over an hour in the oven). The only things I changed were to bake in a 10" tube pan (my convection oven bakes those more evenly than 9x13 or a loaf pan), to use five pears, and to add 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. ginger, and 1/4 t. nutmeg.

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Reviewer:

Russian_Expat

Reviewed: Nov. 18, 2009

I thought this cake was fantastic! I had a few extra pears in the house so I peeled them & cut them into thin slices & layered them into the cake & on the top. It was brilliant!

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Reviewer:

Beverley

Cooking Level: Expert

Living In: Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, U.K.

Reviewed: Nov. 7, 2009

I doulbed it (had the pears) and did two 9 inch rounds, topped with simple glaze- delish!

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Reviewer:

Jana

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Mount Pleasant, Michigan, USA

Living In: Livonia, Michigan, USA

Reviewed: Oct. 15, 2009

I agree with some of the reviews. The cake came out perfectly moist but nobody could tell it was made with pear. I followed the recipe exactly except mine only cooked for 45min and it was perfect. Maybe next time I'll try keeping the pears in pieces instead of blending them.

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Reviewer:

CARVELLI

Reviewed: Sep. 10, 2009

I was very very excited to make this, even waited days until the pears were ripe enough to make the whole house smell great! But I have to say I was pretty disappointed. The cake itself came out perfect, and there was nothing wrong with it, but the taste was very...not what I had expected. I was hoping for a lot more pear taste, and it was so light, it could have been any fruit. It is wonderful in the morning with butter and a hot cup of tea, but I probably will never make this again- at least with pear. I did love soaking the nuts and fruit in the sugars for an hour- that part I WILL keep doing! I did enjoy trying something new- thank you!

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