A few years ago I shared this recipe as part of the Seasonal Real Food Blog Series on Recipes to Nourish. At the time I made this grain free dessert with pears but the combination of apples and pears
together works beautifully and if you pop in some berries, the nutritional
value of the pudding increases in leaps and bounds. Ginger has
exceptional healing properties and is also well known for its powers in aiding
recovery from colds and flu making it an ideal choice as a spice in cooking at
this time of year. Plus, it's so warming and comforting.
The recipe uses a variation of my grain free plain sponge cake recipe. I should have divided the recipe in half but since it uses 3 eggs, it's much more practical to make enough for perhaps two desserts, freezing any cake that's leftover. It serves 4 to 6 people.
Pear and Ginger Pudding GF SCD
1 kg pears or apples or a mixture of both (about 8)
½ cup fresh orange juice (or more)
honey to taste (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
250g Ground Almonds
3 large eggs
3 tblsps extra virgin olive oil
80ml organic honey
1 tblsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tblsps ground ginger
finely grated rind of 1 small lemon
pinch salt
To make the cake :
- Set the oven to 170° C then line two 7" sandwich cake tins tins with baking parchment or use 6" square tins.
- Pour the honey, extra virgin olive oil and vanilla extract into the bowl of a food processor then break in the eggs and process until combined.
- Measure out the ground almonds, lemon rind, ground ginger, bicarbonate of soda and salt into another bowl and whisk together with a fork or balloon whisk.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients little by little processing on a medium speed until all the dry ingredients have been mixed in.
- Share the batter between the tins then bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the bottom half of the oven or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean and the top is springy to touch.
- Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
- Place on a board and cut into 1" cubes.
To make the fruit filling :
- Peel and slice the fruit.
- Tip into a pan with the fresh orange juice and cinnamon.
- Bring slowly to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the fruit is soft adding additional orange juice as required.
- Sweeten with honey to taste.
