Pear and Walnut Cake

Pears and walnuts do very well in the Touraine and you will encounter pear and walnut trees everywhere -- in old orchards, around farmyards, in hedgerows. Some people have so many walnuts they take them to the artisanal crushing plant to have oil made. So in the autumn, the ingredients for this cake are easy to come by, and it uses both the nuts and the oil, as well as pears.

Me cracking homegrown walnuts.

This recipe makes a rather dense cake which keeps well and is actually better on the day after baking. Very easy, and quick to prepare except for the nuts (and you can 'cheat' by buying ready prepared nuts – buy walnut pieces rather than halves, as they will be cheaper and make no difference to the cake).

Makes 25 squares of cake

Ingredients
200ml walnut oil
200g brown sugar
4 eggs
200g sultanas
1 teaspoon quartre épices (a French spice mix of black or white pepper, ginger, nutmeg and cloves - substitute Mixed Spice or Allspice if unavailable)
300g self raising flour
200g walnut pieces (500g of unshelled walnuts will net you 200g shelled)
2-3 ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm³

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 30cm square cake tin with silica baking paper.
2. Beat the oil and sugar until thoroughly combined, then beat in the eggs.
3. Mix in the spice and flour, then the pears, sultanas and nuts.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 55 minutes.
5. Cool the cake in the tin on a wire rack.
6. Turn the cake out onto a board when cold and cut into 25 squares.

Serve with Pineau de Charentes, a fortified wine somewhat like sherry, that is produced to the south west of us in Poitou.