blueberry & pear yoghurt cake

Tomorrow Grace has a play date with her lovely little cousin Lilly.  I feel so lucky and blessed that my sister and I both had our first babies only three months apart.  Growing up my sister and I were the best of friends; we shared a room, toys, books, clothes and a very special connection only a sister can understand.  As kids we barely left each others side and I am over the moon that Grace and Lilly will also share the very same kind of friendship and sisterly love.

Since our catch up is over morning tea I decided to bake a little sweet something to take along, a blueberry and pear yoghurt cake.  This cake is moist, scrumptious and adorned with a layer of caramelised sweet almost jammy pears and blueberries infused with the scent of cinnamon.

I adore this yoghurt cake recipe and I bake it more often than anything else.  With a few little adjustments I have used this simple cake base to create strawberry muffins, banana loaf, blueberry loaf, apple tea cake, pear muffins and an endless array of mostly fruit filled baked treats.  With time a precious commodity at our place these days the simplicity of this cake is truly appreciated.  Simply add dry ingredients to wet, stir, decant into a lined cake tin and bake.

Over time I have also made a few health conscious adjustments to the recipe by halving the amount of sugar, replacing butter with canola oil, adding more yoghurt and doubling the amount of fruit strewn through out recipe and I am delighted to report Grace has happily gobbled up each and every incarnation of this recipe along with the copious amounts of fruit or vegetables strewn throughout.

To create your own little slice of blueberry & pear yoghurt cake simply…

Begin by placing the eggs, yoghurt, canola oil, vanilla bean paste and sugar into a large bowl and mix to combine.

Sift over the flour, baking paper and salt and mix to combine.

Decant into a 24 centimetre cake tin lined with baking paper.

Roughly chop up a couple of pears.

Adorn the top of the cake with the sliced pears and blueberries and sprinkle with a little sugar and dusting of ground cinnamon.  Pop into a preheated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden and cooked.  To test, insert a skewer into the centre of the cake, if the skewer comes out clean the cake is done.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes or so in the tin before removing it to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.

Blueberry & pear yoghurt cake

INGREDIENTS

½ cup caster sugar, plus 1 tablespoon to sprinkle over top of cake

¾ cup (180ml) vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

1 cup thick natural yoghurt

2 cups plain flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

2 pears, cored and chopped

1 punnet of blueberries

1 tablespoon cinnamon

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a 24cm cake tin with baking paper.  Place the sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla and yoghurt in a large bowl and whisk to combine.  Sift over flour, baking powder and pinch of salt.  Mix to combine. Pour the mixture into the lined cake tin.  Adorn the top of the cake with the chopped pear and blueberries and sprinkle with a dusting of cinnamon and caster sugar.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

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