Pear Almond Cake with Cinnamon Brown Sugar Buttercream

 

Um... so....

You see this cake?

I totally made it at 11:30pm on Nyquil. 

Imagine laying individual sliced almonds "neatly" in a row when your eyes can barely stay open. 

It was the Saturday night before Easter, and I told my family I'd bring dessert. I had it all planned out, baked the cake layers early, but somehow got distracted throughout the day and ended up frosting/decorating the cake last minute. I was still getting over the cold my son passed on to us, and had already taken some medicine for the night, but it was only after I had taken the Nyquil when I realized that I'd have zero time the next day to get the cake done before we had to head to my Mom's for Easter dinner. So I swirled the top of the cake and started laying down sliced almonds on the sides... I remember laughing at how insane it looked, instead of the perfect picture I had planned out in my head. My experiences with Nyquil are very infrequent, but it's been my experience that everything is hilarious a few hours into taking it.

The next morning I fell in love with the unkempt quality of the sides. It reminded me of dragon scales. I remembered just how delicious the inside of the cake is with the layers of moist almond pear cake, made from fresh pear puree. I soaked the insides with cinnamon simple syrup, and frosted the dang thing with cinnamon brown sugar buttercream. It was HEAVEN, I tell you. And the most perfect cake for our family feast on Easter Sunday. or any given Sunday. or for breakfast. or with a fork for a snack. I won't judge.

Moral of the story, in my case: Nyquil frosts good cakes. 

Pear Almond Cake with Cinnamon Simple Syrup & Cinnamon Brown Sugar Butter Cream

Cake:
3 C cake flour, siften
2 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 T butter, melted and cooled
2/3 C pear puree
1 3/4 C sugar
2 eggs
1 t almond extract
1/2 t vanilla
3/4 C milk

Cinnamon Simple Syrup:
1 C water
3/4 C sugar
1 T cinnamon 

Frosting:
1/2 C browned butter, cooled to a solid
1/4 C vegetable shortening
1/3 C dark brown sugar, packed
1 pinch of salt
1/8 t vanilla extract
1/2 t cinnamon
3 C powdered sugar
1/4 C heavy whipping cream

Method:
To make cake: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cake rounds with a smear of shortening and a light flour coat.
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a separate medium bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add both extracts, beat until thoroughly mixed together, then add in pureed pear.
3. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with wet mixture, beat very well after each addition. Continue until everything has been added and incorporated.
4. Pour mixture into prepared pans, bake about 30-35 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes, then turn cake out of pans onto a cooling rack.

To make syrup:
1. Heat sugar, cinnamon, and water over medium high heat until bubbling rapidly. Stir, turn heat off, and let cool completely. Brush syrup between cake layers and let soak before frosting.  

To make frosting:
1. In a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, whisk softened brown butter and shortening until fluffy. Add brown sugar, salt, vanilla and cinnamon, and beat until smooth.  
2. Add in one cup of powdered sugar at a time, and beat well after each addition. With your mixer on medium speed, carefully and slowly pour in heavy whipping cream. Don't overmix, only combine until fluffy.

recipe source: country cleaver via tidymom.net