Quick and Simple Pear and Walnut Cake

It has been a while since I baked some sweets. The main reason is that my current work place does not have a culture of morning teas. Rather, we like to go out for a short walk to a nearby coffee joint to grab a caffeine fix.

So one day, when my manager said we will be having a guest speaker, I asked if I could bring something. I spotted this recipe by Belinda Jefferys- a well known Australian cook and baker. This came from her book Mix and Bake. I am a fan of her recipes because it is as it says in the title- most of them are mix and bake! No fuss and little use of the cake mixer (less to wash! yay!).

I used a bundt tin for this. Unfortunately I did not oil it well and the cake broke while I turned the tin over. Oh well, MORE crumbs for me I say!!

It's a rather moist cake. I love the chunks of pears in this. Best of all, it's an olive oil cake so it's healthy to eat.

Quick and Simple Pear and Walnut Cake 
2 cups plain flour
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp of mixed spice (you can use nutmeg)
1 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of roasted walnuts
3 eggs
1 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup of light olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup water
3 medium size pears peeled, cored and diced into small chunks

optional-icing sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 150C. Oil and flour 26 cm bundt tin.

Whisk flour, spices, bicab soda and salt in a large bowl. Toss nuts through.

Whisk eggs, then add sugars, oil, vanilla and water. Pour wet ingredients to dry. When they are well combined, fold in pears. Spoon into prepared tin.

Bake for 1 hr and 10 mins or so. Cool tin for 10 mins and invert it to the rack. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar if desired.