Quick and easy Pear Streusel Cake

I bought some juicy, ripe pears that day from market, but kids refused to eat them totally. Then it was lying on the table for 3-4 days and I was thinking and thinking what to do with them before they start to rotten. I wanted to make something that they won't realize they are eating pears. After lot of research, I decided to try out this recipe which can be made in very less time and also needs very less ingredients. I tried kind of similar recipe with apple once, Apple Crumble Pie. This recipe is little bit different and easier than Apple crumble Pie. To my surprise, kids loved the cake.

What is Streusel? 

   In baking and pastry making, Streusel is a crumbly topping made of flour, butter, and sugar that is baked on top of muffins, breads, pies, and cakes (e.g. Streuselkuchen). Some modern recipes add spices and chopped nuts, too. the origin of streusel cake is German. You can make this streusel topping on any kind of cake. The fruits can also be replaced with pineapple, apple, peach, apricots, strawberry etc. The possibilities are endless.

   The pears are used in this cake should not be too ripe nor too green or unripe. Peel and then core the middle part properly, use only the flesh. Then dice them into bite size pieces. To make this cake more healthy, I used brown sugar instead of regular sugar. Brown sugar combines with pears, cinnamon and nutmeg very well.

You need :

For the cake ::

All purpose Flour : 1 1/4 cup

Pears : 2, peeled, cored and chopped

Eggs : 2

Butter/margarine : 3 tblsp. [in room temperature]

Milk : 1/2 cup

Brown Sugar : 1 cup, powdered

Baking Powder : 1 tsp.

Salt : a pinch

Cinnamon powder : 1 tsp.

Nutmeg powder : 1 tsp.

For the crumb(streusel topping) ::

Flour : 1/2 cup

Sugar(regular white ones) : 1/3 cup

Butter : 2 tblsp.

Cinnamon powder : 1/2 tsp.(optional)

                                                                  The ingredients

How To :

• Prepare the pears as I mentioned above. Preheat oven to 180 degreeC or 375 degreeF.
• In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients e.g. flour, baking powder, powdered sugar and salt. Mix well together and keep aside.
• In another bowl, mix eggs, butter and milk. This is your wet ingredients. Beat with an electric beater till smooth. Then add the dry ingredients slowly into the wet ingredients bowl and mix till smooth. When done with all dry ingredients, mix the chopped pears and add cinnamon powder into the bowl. Give it a mix and your batter is ready.
• Now prepare the crumb : take all the ingredients into a bowl, just mix with your fingers until crumbs form. Keep aside.

                                                                        The crumb

• Grease your baking pan with little butter, then pour the batter into the pan, then sprinkle the crumb allover the batter uniformly. 

 

• Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the topping gets a nice brown color and dries up. Insert a toothpick in the center, that should also come clean. Then your cake is ready.
• Cool on wire rack and then cut into squares.

Enjoy with a hot cup of tea or coffee, my kids had them on their breakfast, wholesome and healthy