Cardamom Cake with Whole Pears & White Chocolate

Name: Cardamom Cake with Whole Pears & White Chocolate
Cuisine: Dutch
Ingredients: pinch of salt; 1 generous tbsp ground cardamom; 3 oz (90 g) white chocolate, in chunks; 3 medium-size crisp, firm pears (such as Bosc), peeled but whole, with the stem left on; 3 medium-size crisp, firm pears (such as Bosc), peeled but whole, with the stem left on; 1 (750-ml) bottle dry white wine; 1¼ cups (250 g) sugar; 3 medium-size crisp, firm pears (such as Bosc), peeled but whole, with the stem left on; 3 medium-size crisp, firm pears (such as Bosc), peeled but whole, with the stem left on; 1½ cups plus 2 tbsp (200 g) butter, softened, plus extra for greasing; 1 cup (200 g) sugar; 4 eggs; 1½ cups (200 g) self-rising flour; 4 cloves; 3 star anise; 8 cardamom pods; 2 cinnamon sticks

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Home Made Winter

By Yvette van Boven

Published 2012

About

This recipe has been published all over in magazines and newspapers, but I really don’t care; since it’s so good and it looks so cool, it belongs in this collection.

Make it, and you’re sold.

Ingredients

For the Pears

3 medium-size crisp, firm pears (such as Bosc), peeled but whole, with the stem left on
1 (750-

Europe
Netherlands
Cake
Vegetarian
Winter
January
Epiphany

Method

Poach the pears: In a large saucepan, combine the pears, wine, sugar, cloves, star anise, cardamom, and cinnamon and poach for 30 minutes over low heat.

Take the pears out of the liquid and set aside to cool. Add 2½ cups (500 ml) water to the poaching liquid and boil to reduce the liquid by half. Let cool.

Make the cake: Preheat the oven to