Batter Cake with Fresh Pears from the Corrèze

“It’s our best dessert, ” says Albert Parveaux, proprietor of the Château de Castel Novel. He is speaking of the flaugnarde of the Corrèze, a superb soufflé-like fruit cake, similar to a German apple pancake. “But, ” he adds, “its simplicity is misunderstood by some of our guests, who think complexity is the same thing as excellence.”

He explained the true secrets of a successful flaugnarde: “First, never put sugar into it the way they do in the Périgord, because it wo