This Classic French Pear Cake features tender pear chunks nestled in a light and airy crumb, flavored with almond extract. Right before baking, the cake gets dusted with sugar to create a signature crackly top. It’s super-easy to make and is just sweet enough, with a delightful more-pear-than-crumb-ratio. If you love pears, this recipe will become a staple in your repertoire.
A key step : Ribboning the eggs and sugar
For the batter, you must start by ribboning together the eggs and sugar. This is a key step in making this recipe, so I wanted to emphasize a bit on this technique here.
“Ribboning” is achieved by beating the eggs and sugar together (by hand or with a hand mixer) for a long period (usually 5 to 10 minutes) until the sugar crystals dissolve and the mixture becomes pale, thick and forms a ribbon when falling from the whisk. The mixture should be smooth and hold its shape, but not dry. You can watch this video for more instructions. This process is important as it incorporates air into the mixture, which is essential to achieve the tender, airy cake crumb that makes this pear cake so unique.
Cooking notes :
- Choose firm baking pears, such as Bartlett, Bosc, or Anjou. They won’t release too much moisture when baking and will hold their shape.
- I like to peel the pears, but you can certainly leave them unpeeled if you wish.
- When adding the pear chunks to the batter, it will look like there is too much pear – this is normal. Use a spatula to fold the pears into the batter and to spread out the thick batter in the prepared cake pan.
- The cake is rather delicate in texture, so I recommend using a well-greased springform pan so it is easier to remove it from the pan (flipping it onto a plate may break it).
I hope you’ll love this Classic French Pear Cake recipe as much as I do! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment.
You may also like:
- Apple Breton Pound Cake
- Gluten-Free Apple Crisp
- Apple Cinnamon Galette
- Classic French Apple Cake
- French Walnut Coffee Cake
- Salted Butter Breton Sables
47 comments
LOOKS utterly delicious….on the menu for this week!
Thank you Jenny!
Could I make this with apples, I don’t like pears.
Hi Kathy. If you prefer apples, I recommend you make this Classic French Apple Cake recipe: https://www.pardonyourfrench.com/classic-french-apple-cake/
It is the same recipe, but made with almond and rum for flavoring. Happy baking!
Yes make that apple cake! It is amazing. The rum just adds so much to the cake. We love it.
Amazing, thanks!
does the rum bake off or does it have a liquor taste?
Did you accidentally reply to the wrong recipe? This French Pear Cake only has almond extract, no rum. But generally speaking, any cake on the site which does include rum (never has much in the recipe) will have a slightly rummy taste. Hope this helps!
Sorry – I thought I put that message on your French Apple cake recipe. But thank you for answering – was really curious. Thank you.
Tomorrow’s Sunday brunch dessert. Can’t wait! Is it possible to over mix the egg and sugar mixture?
Hi Shelby! That is a very good question – yes, it is possible to over-mix the eggs and sugar. Whipping the mixture too long will make it too fluffy, resulting in more of a foam consistency. So make sure to stop mixing when a ribbon forms. Happy brunch!
Will Asian pears work for this recipe?
Hi Cynthia. Unfortunately, I do not recommend Asian pears for this recipe. Although they have a firm flesh, Asian pears are extremely juicy and will give off a lot of liquid when cooking (more than Anjou or Bosc pears), so you may end up with a mushy cake. I hope this helps!
Made this for Easter dessert. Absolutely delicious!! Thank you for the recipe!
Great, thank you!
I made this and loved it! I like to substitute olive oil for butter, so used 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup of oil. I also added two tablespoons of French Pear Cognac which give it a wonderful aroma and flavour. I will definitely make this again. Et j’adore the crisp sugary top!
Wonderful, thank you for your feedback!
I made pear cake, absolutely delicious!!!
Thank you!
It is in the oven now and it smells divine. I added 1.5 T pear liqueur and reduced the milk to 2 T. I considered putting a sprinkle of sliced almonds on top before the sugar, but didn’t know if the almonds could take the sugar and the time. Tonight is for company, but I’ll definitely make again for just us. Any thoughts?
Hi Linda, sliced almonds would be lovely sprinkled on top of the cake!
I made this cake today and discovered that the only problem is that I want to eat the entire cake in one sitting. Like so many of your recipes that I’ve made this is delicious and a definite repeat!
Thank you!
This is our cake for the weekend. At first I was a bit confused about the quantity of butter vs floor but the result is great. Thank you!
It’s not just a rumor, the French do LOVE butter! Glad you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for reviewing.
I took this as dessert to a dinner last night. It was absolutely stunning! Everyone enjoyed it. And it’s so easy! This will definitely be a ‘go to’ recipe for me. Thank you, Audrey.
So glad everyone enjoyed it! And as they say, sometimes simple is best… it’s such a nice recipe to quickly put together for events like this.
Good morning Audrey, I do appreciate you sharing your lovely recipes. I am planning to bake the pear cake. Is it possible to use whole in place of 2% milk? We only buy whole milk.
I bake your plum cake as Christmas gifts to my neighbors. They all throughly look forward to Christmas each year! Thank you again, Nancy
I don’t think there will be much of a problem at all substituting whole milk for the 2% milk. I assume the difference would be mostly negligable.
So nice to hear about the plum cake as well. Thank you so much for the kind compliment. I hope you (and perhaps even your neighbors) enjoy the pear cake just as much!
Feather-light and subtly flavored, this cake is the perfect way to highlight seasonal fruit. We loved it 🙂
Thanks so much, Matt. This cake really does let the pears do the talking, I love it as well!
To be clear: I do not bake. I cook. Despite that, I thought I would attempt this cake. The clear directions and photos every step of the way made it so easy. I added brandy and sprinkled sliced almonds on top. It looked like I bought it, it was so perfect. It turned out absolutely delicious- it melted in my mouth. I gave some to my hubby and even he was shocked! Thank you for such a simple but impressive recipe and I love your explanation of ribboning. Just a fantastic recipe. Thank you!
Amazing, Michelle. Thank you so much for the kind words. I do try my best to make recipes as simple and clear for every level of home cook/baker, as I can. So it’s always wonderful to hear when it’s working. So glad you both enjoyed the cake!
I’ve never commented on a recipe before, but this one is worthy! This is the best cake I’ve ever made. Just wonderful. After reading others’ comments, I did put sliced almonds on top, which added a nice crunch. Making it again this weekend to bring to a dinner party! Thank you.
Kathryn, this made my day! I am so happy to hear this cake went over this well with you. It truly is a wonderful cake, and the addition of sliced almonds on top.. I mean, sounds perfect! Thank you again for the kind words.
I have made this cake twice. It is a fabulous recipe!
Much appreciated, Jani! Thank you for letting me know.
Simply delicious!
I have made this recipe twice now. Once in the springform tin, and once as muffins.
There is not a crumb left by the second day!
Simple and stunning.
Thank you so much, Kelly! Out of curiosity, what was the cooking time on the muffins?
I brought this to a dinner party last week and my friends all loved it! By chance have you experimented with making the recipe larger? I think I have enough room in my 9″ springform pan to at least increase by 1/2 if not double. Everyone is asking me to make the cake bigger next time!
Thank you so much, Julia! Glad everyone enjoyed this wonderful cake. To answer your question, I haven’t honestly made the cake in any other size, but scaling it up 50% should be fairly simple, and I think should work just fine. If you’re going to attempt it, I would start with a 50% increase first before doubling. If you do give it a go at a larger size, I’d love to know how it turned out.
Has anyone tried with splenda or other sugar substitute? Ty susan
I haven’t Susan, but hoping someone will be able to assist you 🙂
Thank you for an easy and great recipe for my tree of pears It came out delicious 😋
Lucky you! Now you have a reason to bake it all the time 🙂
Delicious!
I first learned of a moelleux cake from David Leibovitz’s summer fruit moelleux recipe which received rave reviews from all I feed it to. This cake is equally divine. Thank you for tantalizing pear dessert recipes.
So glad you tried it, TJ, and even happier the result was up to the standard that David set. Please enjoy a slice for me 🙂