• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Pinch My Salt

Food, Recipes, and Photography

  • About
  • Contact
  • Recipe List
  • The BBA Challenge

Food Blog Friday: Caramel Apple Pear Cake from Zoë Bakes

November 12, 2010 by Nicole 19 Comments

Caramel Apple and Pear Cake from Zoe Bakes

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.

Apple Pear Cake Close-Up

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.

Caramel Apple and Pear Cake from Zoe Bakes

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.

Apple Pear Cake Unmolded

Once the caramel sauce was poured over the cake, it looked even better!

Caramel Apple Pear Cake Sliced

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!

Slice of Caramel Apple Pear Cake

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

Filed Under: Adventures in Baking, Food Blog Friday

Previous Post: « Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Walnuts
Next Post: Silent Sunday: Quince Season »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Corinne says

    November 12, 2010 at 6:56 pm

    It turned out beautiful! It looks sooooo good! Yay!
    Reply
  2. the blissful baker says

    November 12, 2010 at 10:46 pm

    that cake looks so lovely!
    Reply
  3. Kalynskitchen says

    November 13, 2010 at 3:57 am

    What a beautiful cake. I thought Zoe was so charming when I met her at BlogHer Food last year.
    Reply
  4. heather says

    November 13, 2010 at 6:31 am

    This 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*
    Reply
  5. heather says

    November 13, 2010 at 6:31 am

    This 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*
    Reply
  6. Jen says

    November 13, 2010 at 8:06 am

    Oh. My. God. It is 7:05 a.m. and I am sitting here drooling.
    Reply
  7. Rachel says

    November 13, 2010 at 1:36 pm

    What a beautiful cake! I'm gonna have to check out Zoe's blogs.
    Reply
  8. Ravenous Rowie says

    November 13, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    That cake looks so delicious, and gorgeous!!! Now I kinda want cake for lunch!
    Reply
  9. LimeCake says

    November 13, 2010 at 6:15 pm

    wow that looks incredible! you did a beautiful job!
    Reply
  10. Roxan says

    November 15, 2010 at 10:39 am

    This 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.
    Reply
  11. mei says

    November 21, 2010 at 11:01 pm

    Beautiful yummy cake... can you do one with spenda? :-) Love your website, beautiful pics! Thanks for sharing. Mei
    Reply
  12. Avanika (Yumsilicious Bakes) says

    December 5, 2010 at 3:03 am

    Wow that looks gorgeous. The pears have a glassy, underwater sort of look!!
    Reply
  13. janice says

    April 17, 2011 at 6:17 am

    What a beautiful cake!That cake looks so delicious, and gorgeous!!! Now I kinda want cake for lunch!
    Reply
  14. Julie says

    May 6, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    Both pictures look yummy.(http://tinyurl.com/232suyb), I would eat up either one of them
    Reply
  15. Julie says

    May 6, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    How do I get the link to work? like Heather did? http://tinyurl.com/232suyb tinyurl.com/2323suyb
    Reply
  16. Caven says

    June 5, 2013 at 6:18 pm

    This is lovely. I had tried the recipe and my family and friends love it. Thanks for sharing.
    Reply
  17. Leslie says

    December 27, 2015 at 8:34 pm

    I made this cake as the dessert for my family's Christmas gathering this year and it was a huge hit! I got really worried when I made the batter and it was so thick I had to spoon and not pour it into the pan per the instructions but it baked up perfectly (did anyone else have that problem?). Thanks Zoe for the great recipe, it will definitely be getting printed out and added to my recipe binder. Much appreciated.
    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Posts by Category

Copyright © 2023 · Privacy · Terms and Conditions