It’s definitely time for another installation of Food Blog Friday and this week I’m featuring a gorgeous Caramel Apple and Pear Cake recipe from the wonderful baking blog Zoë Bakes, written by pastry chef and cookbook author Zoë François.
Even if you aren’t familiar with her blog, you might recognize Zoë as co-author of the popular bread baking books Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The books are great and so is the Artisan Bread in Five blog, but it’s really been a pleasure getting to know Zoë through her personal baking blog over the past few years.
When I was searching for a Caramel Apple Cake recipe yesterday, I was thrilled to find this recipe. The sweet cake is filled with apple chunks and flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and a touch of brandy. It is topped with an overlapping layer of thin pear slices and glazed with a caramel sauce. Although I hadn’t originally planned on using pears, I fell in love with the pretty design on top of the cake and knew I had to give it a try. The cake is very elegant looking, but was really simple to make thanks to the step-by-step photos and clear instructions.
When my cake came from the oven, it looked great, but I was a bit nervous about removing it from the tube pan. I was afraid the pear design wouldn’t come out right or that something would stick or that I would somehow break the cake.
There was no reason to be afraid, the cake slipped out of the pan with no problems and the parchment paper peeled right off the pears and revealed the layered design.
Once the caramel sauce was poured over the cake, it looked even better!
The cake was unbelievably moist and the simple caramel sauce with hints of brandy and honey was especially delicious. Zoë served hers with ice cream, but I suggest eating it like we did, with mounds of lightly-sweetened fresh whipped cream. Amazing!
Caramel Apple and Pear Cake recipe from Zoë Bakes
Follow Zoë on Twitter
Zoë Bakes on Facebook
Artisan Bread in Five Blog
Other recipes to try from Zoë Bakes:
- Ultimate Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Chocolate Covered Coffee Toffee
- Chicken Pot Pie with Homemade Puff Pastry
- Mocha Chip Cookies
Previous Food Blog Fridays:
- Spicy Tomato Jam from Over a Tuscan Stove
- Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake from Baking Bites
- Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting from Simply Recipes
- Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini Bread from 101 Cookbooks
- Fattoush from Kalyn’s Kitchen
- Spice-Rubbed Flank Steak from Blue Kitchen
- Lemon Buttermilk Popsicles from Whipped
- Apricot Almond Tart from Tartelette
- Blueberry Orange Cornmeal Pancakes from Satisfied
- Luscious Lemon Bars from Alpineberry
It turned out beautiful! It looks sooooo good! Yay!
6:56 pm Nov 12th, 2010that cake looks so lovely!
10:46 pm Nov 12th, 2010What a beautiful cake. I thought Zoe was so charming when I met her at BlogHer Food last year.
3:57 am Nov 13th, 2010This looks like the pear ginger upside-down cake I baked the other day (http://tinyurl.com/232suyb), though I like that yours has chunks of apple in the middle as well as the layer of pears on top. Fruit in your face! And I love the larger tin shape. Will have to try this, too.
Cheers,
*Heather*
6:31 am Nov 13th, 2010This looks like the pear ginger upside-down cake I baked the other day (http://tinyurl.com/232suyb), though I like that yours has chunks of apple in the middle as well as the layer of pears on top. Fruit in your face! And I love the larger tin shape. Will have to try this, too.
Cheers,
*Heather*
6:31 am Nov 13th, 2010Oh. My. God. It is 7:05 a.m. and I am sitting here drooling.
8:06 am Nov 13th, 2010What a beautiful cake! I’m gonna have to check out Zoe’s blogs.
1:36 pm Nov 13th, 2010That cake looks so delicious, and gorgeous!!! Now I kinda want cake for lunch!
3:11 pm Nov 13th, 2010wow that looks incredible! you did a beautiful job!
6:15 pm Nov 13th, 2010This is a gorgeous cake. You did a great job of arranging the pear! Mine would turn out no where near that beautiful. Thanks for the link to Zoe’s blog. I’ve seen her cookbooks and it’ll be nice to read some of her thoughts.
10:39 am Nov 15th, 2010Beautiful yummy cake… can you do one with spenda?
Love your website, beautiful pics! Thanks for sharing. Mei
11:01 pm Nov 21st, 2010Wow that looks gorgeous. The pears have a glassy, underwater sort of look!!
3:03 am Dec 5th, 2010What a beautiful cake!That cake looks so delicious, and gorgeous!!! Now I kinda want cake for lunch!
6:17 am Apr 17th, 2011Both pictures look yummy.(http://tinyurl.com/232suyb), I would eat up either one of them
1:00 pm May 6th, 2011How do I get the link to work? like Heather did?
http://tinyurl.com/232suyb
tinyurl.com/2323suyb
1:02 pm May 6th, 2011[...] Caramel Apple Pear Cake from Zoë Bakes [...]
5:38 pm Feb 4th, 2012