Spicy Poached Pear with Mascarpone

’Spicy’ is a word that appears frequently in my menus, but some are surprised to see it in the desserts section. In my youth, if there was a cookbook that every New Zealand mother bought for her child when they left home, it was the Edmonds Cookbook; no good household was without its copy. This contained something described enticingly as ‘Araby Spice Cake’, which was not complicated but very tasty. Then there were the ‘Easter S