Birthday Extravaganza: Pear Cla-fake-tis (A.K.A. Pear and Almond Tart/Sponge)

Easy as pie. Er, tart. No, clafoutis. No, wait, sponge.

It's probably closer to the latter but it seems to change names among us. A quick and easy dessert to whip up.

Pear and Almond Thingumy Cake


3oz self-raising flour
3oz caster sugar
3oz butter/margarine
1 egg
Approx 1 tsp almond essence
1 tin halved, peeled pears, approx 410g
Icing sugar, to dust
Custard or ice cream, to serve (optional)

1. Nan chucks all the ingredients into a bowl and mixes it all up. I went down the standard "cream the butter and sugar, add the egg with a little flour, fold in the rest of the flour" route. Either seems to work.

2. Arrange the pears flat side down in a glass bowl (for prettiness), though a cake tin would probably work too. Pour/spoon the mixture over the top (It's not a runny batter), including over the pears. Don't be afraid to coat them, but also don't feel bad if you don't.

3. Bake in a 200C/180C Fan for approx 10-15 minutes (I'm guessing here, I'm afraid, will check with Nan but I'd imagine that would be fairly okay...)

4. Sieve some icing sugar over the top and serve either warm or cold.