Pear and Cardamom Snack Cake

A comfy, cozy buttermilk snack cake spiced with fragrant cardamom and studded with fresh pears. This simple cake is topped with a cardamom crumble and a caramel glaze.

Its snack cake season, everyone. The time of year where you’re looking for simple, seasonal bakes that you can share with friends and family at holiday parties, potlucks, or gatherings. And because I love a good snack cake, I have quite a few lined up to share with you over the next few months.

This pear and cardamom snack cake is a perfect fall treat. The batter features warm browned butter and floral cardamom and is filled with juicy seasonal pears. Plus, there’s a cardamom crumble on top and a warm caramel glaze that takes this cake to the next level. Let’s jump in!

simple snack cake

For me, for a cake to be considered snack-able, it needs to follow a few rules. First, it’s a single-layer, one pan situation. No baking multiple pans of batter or torte-ing layers allowed. Ideally, it’s a blending method cake—meaning wet ingredients are whisked into dry ingredients and liquid fat is incorporated. This means no mixers or lots of dishes for clean-up.

I also love seasonal snack cakes, with ultra-simple bases that hold up whatever seasonal fruit I have on hand. Adaptability is key.

how to make a pear cardamom snack cake:

• To make this recipe, we start with the crumble. Flour, oats, and spices are mixed together with softened butter just to bind everything together and form craggy clumps. This gets chilled while you make the cake so it’s easier to crumble.

• To make the cake, we start by browning butter with a few smashed cardamom pods until it’s nutty and fragrant. I like to get whole cardamom pods at my local Middle Eastern grocery store or World Market, but if you can’t find them, feel free to omit them.

• While the butter is cooling, all of our dry ingredients get whisked together, followed by the wet ingredients. Then the wet ingredients are added to the dry ingredients to form a batter and finally, the browned butter is whisked in.

• For this recipe, I used two large pears. I started by cutting the pears in half so that I had four pieces. I diced three of the halves into small chunks and then thinly sliced the last half and set it aside for topping.

• The diced pears are folded into the batter and then the batter is transferred to a 9” cake pan (I like deep springform pans for this recipe), before it’s topped with the reserved pear slices (for aesthetic purposes) and the chilled cardamom crumble.

• The cake is baked—it will need a longer bake due to the high moisture content, and then warm caramel glaze is drizzled over the top.

Yield one 9" cake, serves 8-10

Author Anna Ramiz

Prep time

30 Min

Cook time

1 Hour

Total time

1 H & 30 M

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Pear and Cardamom Snack Cake

A comfy, cozy buttermilk snack cake spiced with fragrant cardamom and studded with fresh pears. This simple cake is topped with a cardamom crumble and a caramel glaze.

Ingredients

for the crumble topping

• 1/4 cup (32 g) all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup (30 g) rolled oats
• 1/4 cup (50 g) brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 cup (56 g) unsalted butter, softened

for the cake

• 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter
• 2 cardamom pods, smashed
• 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup (227 g) buttermilk
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 pears (375 g), 3/4 diced, 1/4 thinly sliced

for the caramel glaze

• 1/4 cup (30 g) sifted confectioner's sugar
• 1/4 cup warm caramel, homemade or store-bought

Instructions

to make the crumble topping

1. Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, until all of the butter has been worked in and mixture forms large clumps. Transfer to a bowl and chill while you make the cake.

to make the cake

1. Place butter and smashed cardamom pods in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, for 6-7 minutes or until the butter becomes foamy and fragrant and little brown flecks begin to form on the bottom of the pan. Transfer the butter to a bowl to cool and discard the cardamom seeds.
2. Line the bottom of a 9" springform pan with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ground cardamom, and salt. Set aside.
4. In another bowl or a large measuring cup, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla until smooth.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until batter is smooth and no flour clumps remain. Whisk in the cooled browned butter until thick and homogenized.
6. Gently fold the diced pears into the batter until dispersed. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and arrange the sliced pears on the top. Generously sprinkle the crumble topping over the cake.
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until cake is deeply browned and a skewer or knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan.
8. While the cake is cooling, whisk together the confectioner's sugar and warm caramel to form a smooth, drizzle-able glaze.
9. Invert the cooled cake onto a serving platter and drizzle with the caramel glaze.

Notes

You can use store-bought or homemade caramel for this recipe, but you may need to slightly adjust the amount added depending on the thickness of your caramel. You can find the homemade caramel recipe that I used for this recipe here.

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Olive Oil Granola Fruit Crisp

A very easy, accidentally vegan summer fruit crisp recipe. Bright summer berries are topped with crunchy olive oil granola and then baked until bubbly.

summer berries and an olive oil granola fruit crisp

I have three criteria for summer desserts. 1) FRUIT! Give me all the berries, cherries, and stone fruit that the season has to offer. 2) Simple is better- I want easy, toss together, pantry recipes that can be made quickly, adapted easily, and shared with a crowd. 3) Topped with ice cream. All good summer desserts should be able to be topped with a big scoop of ice cream.

Lucky for us, today’s new recipe meets all of our stringent summer dessert criteria. This olive oil granola fruit crisp, is ridiculously easy to mix together, is accidentally vegan and can very easily be made gluten-free. The crumble topping is so versatile and you can use it with any of your favorite fruits, and fruit crisps and vanilla ice cream go together like PB&J.

what is a fruit crisp

When it comes to a baked fruit dessert (ie. cobblers, crisps, crumbles), it’s all about the topping. According to my personal dictionary of dessert words, the definitions for each are as follows: cobbler- fruit topped with a biscuit or cake like topping (this would include a liquid ingredient, like buttermilk or heavy cream, in the recipe), crumble- fruit topped with a thick, streusel like topping (when developing recipes, if I include cold butter, I generally consider it a crumble), and crisp- a lighter streusel topping, generally with oats and some sort of nut.

Again, these are my personal working definitions and opinions may vary (we haven’t even included buckles and clafoutis!). Ultimately, a fruit crisp consists of fresh summer fruit topped with a lighter, crunchy layer, making it 100% okay to eat this for breakfast.

how to make an olive oil granola fruit crisp

You guys know how I feel about olive oil in baking. I was actually thinking about it the other day and I think that olive oil might be my number 1 favorite baking ingredient. It’s ridiculously versatile and I just love the tiny, savory quality it gives to sweet recipes. It’s the simplest way I know to elevate a recipe.

For the crisp topping, olive oil and maple syrup (you could use honey) are whisked together and then poured over a bowl of granola-esque goodies—oats, walnuts, coconut, brown sugar. There is a touch of flour in this recipe, which helps to bind everything together, but you could easily substitute buckwheat flour or a cup-for-cup gluten free flour. Everything is tossed together until just moistened and then spooned over some macerated berries. It’s baked until crispy and golden and bubbly, then topped with vanilla ice cream, a glug of olive oil, and a pinch of flaky salt.

You can very easily use another fruit, like peaches or cherries or nectarines. I recommend eating this outside for maximum summer vibes.

Yield: makes one 9" pie dish

Author: Anna Ramiz

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Olive Oil Granola Fruit Crisp

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 1 Hour

A very easy, accidentally vegan summer fruit crisp recipe. Bright summer berries are topped with crunchy olive oil granola and then baked until bubbly.

Ingredients

for the berry filling

• 1 lb fresh strawberries, quartered
• 6 oz fresh raspberries
• 6 oz fresh blueberries
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• Juice of 1/2 of a lemon

for the olive oil granola topping

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 6 tbsp high-quality, fruity olive oil
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together granulated sugar and cornstarch to break up any clumps.
3. Place fruit in a large bowl and toss with sugar and cornstarch mixture. Add lemon juice and toss to coat. Let macerate while you prepare the topping.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, walnuts, and coconut. In a smaller bowl, whisk together olive oil and maple syrup until combined. Add the olive oil and maple syrup to the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to stir well, until everything is moistened.
5. Pour fruit into a deep 9” round baking dish. Place crumble topping in an even layer on top of the fruit and bake for 40-45 minutes, until fruit is bubbly and topping is deeply golden brown. Let cool for 15-20 minutes, and then serve warm with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of olive oil.

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Goat Cheese and Roasted Raspberry Crumble Ice Cream

Have y’all ever been to a Jeni’s Ice Cream? If you haven't, you’re missing out. The franchise started in Ohio, but they have locations all over the Midwest and Southeast (and even California now according to the website!). We discovered Jeni’s a few years back while living in Nashville, where the ice cream shop has a cult following. It doesn’t matter if it’s 90° F and sunny or 35° F and snowy, you could always spot any Jeni’s location because of the line snaking out of the front door and down the sidewalk. They have a whole bunch of unique flavors that change seasonally, but my absolute favorite was a Goat Cheese and Red Cherries Ice Cream that only made it’s appearance in late Spring/early Summer. Usually, around mid-May, I would start seeking out Jeni’s trips to see if this perfect flavor had made it’s appearance on the board yet and get as much as I could before it disappeared at the end of cherry season. For all of the times that I went with high hopes of finding the goat cheese ice cream only to find it’s space on the flavor board empty, there was Brambleberry Crisp. Ribbons of dark, juicy berries, swirled with cobbler chunks, and although it wasn’t the goat cheese and red cherries, it made a pretty great second choice.

This ice cream is a mash-up of these two favorites. The tangy goat cheese gives almost a cheesecake flavor to the ice cream base, while bright summer raspberries are roasted until they are dark fuchsia and stirred in with chunks of crumble topping. The best part is that this ice cream can be made with or without an ice cream maker. Like all of my ice cream recipes here on the blog, it’s a creme anglaise base that gets chilled, whipped, and frozen—no churning necessary. But, if you’re one of the blessed few who has an ice cream maker at home, the base can be added to your machine and churned following the instructions on your ice cream maker. It’s a perfect summer treat for those of us without a Jeni’s around the corner.

Goat Cheese and Roasted Raspberry Crumble Ice Cream

Yield: 1 quart ice cream

Ingredients: 

for the ice cream base

2 cups (460 g) heavy cream

3/4 cup granulated sugar

4 egg yolks

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2.5 oz goat cheese

for the roasted raspberries

10 oz raspberries

2 T granulated sugar

for the crumble 

1/4 cup (35 g) all purpose flour

1/2 cup (50 g) rolled oats

3 T (40 g) brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp kosher salt

4 T (57 g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed

Procedure: 

to make the ice cream: 

1. In a medium saucepan, heat cream over medium-low heat until it is beginning to bubble around the edges of the pan and is hot to the touch. 

2. While the cream is heating, whisk together salt, vanilla, egg yolks, and sugar in a large bowl. When the cream is hot, slowly stream it into the egg mixture, whisking continually the whole time. Transfer the entire mixture back into the saucepan and return to heat. 

3. Cook, stirring continually with a wooden spoon, over low-medium heat until anglaise sauce is thickened, but do not bring to a boil. You can test if the sauce is ready by wiping your finger through the sauce along the back of the wooden spoon. If the line your finger creates holds, the sauce is ready. If it drips, continue cooking. 

4. When the sauce is sufficiently thickened, strain into a large mixing bowl, whisk in goat cheese until melted and combined, cover, and refrigerate.

5. Whipping and chilling: When the anglaise sauce is cold, transfer to a mixer and begin whipping. Whip until soft peaks form and then return to the refrigerator.  

to make the roasted raspberries:

1. Combine raspberries and granulated sugar in a cast-iron skillet or glass baking dish. Bake at 400° F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, gently stir raspberries and continue baking for another 10-15 until bubbly and softened. Set aside to cool.

to make the crumble: 

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. 

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds to combine. 

3. Add cold butter to flour mixture and mix on medium speed until butter is evenly distributed and completely incorporated. (If making ahead of time, the crumble mixture can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days.)

4. Press crumble mixture in an even-layered disc or rectangle on your prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until golden brown on the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on the pan and then use your hands to break up into chunks. 

to assemble ice cream: 

1. After whipping the creme anglaise to soft peaks, use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the cooled roasted raspberries and sprinkle in the crumble mixture. (Make sure to mix only until everything is evenly distributed, but that ribbons and streaks of raspberry remain.)

2. Spread ice cream in an 8x8 pan or a loaf pan, cover the dish with plastic wrap and freeze overnight (8-12 hours). 

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