Rosewater Poached Pears with Cardamom Coconut Cake

 

If I was ever told  that I could choose just one fruit to cook/bake for a whole week among the plethora of options we have in Australia, it would have to be pears (yes, over my favourite berries). They are not only great in sweet dishes but equally delicious with savoury. A few days ago, I shared a recipe of Chocolate, Hazelnut and Pear friands where I just added the pears sliced up in the batter and they baked up beautifully. Ever since, I’ve been meaning to post a recipe with poached pears.

If you follow me for a while you’ve surely come across my Caramel poached pears with Ginger Cake which is my my most popular recipe till date. It was shortlisted in the Food Portraiture category for the Pink Lady Food Photography awards and is also the cover photo for the latest Sweet Dreams Magazine.  Basically, it is a personal favorite of mine and the pears do all the magic. But this time around, I wanted to make something delicate and a bit Spring-ish to go with the season. And pears being so versatile, the first thing that came to my mind was Rosewater poached pears. . Rosewater is like my secret weapon, time and again in elevating the simple to something fancy without doing anything extra. These gorgeous Beurre Bosc pears have been poached in a fragrant rosewater liquid and the resulting pears were soft. melt-in-your mouth while beautifully smelling of roses. Sitting atop a cardamom infused crunchy coconut cake, these flavors work together like magic.

 

I seldom make a cake which is complicated or hard to replicate and the same goes with this one. This is truly a delight for the senses.
Powdered Cardamom is available in almost all Australian supermarkets these days. You could also check in Indian stores. Rosewater/edible rose petals can be ordered online and also found in Indian and Middle Eastern stores.

 

Rosewater Poached Pears with Cardamom, Coconut Cake
Serves 6-8

Rosewater Poached Pears

1 cup castor sugar
2 tsp rosewater
6 cups water (1.5 l)
4 Beurre Bosc pears, peeled, cored

Place the water, sugar and rosewater in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the pears. Place a baking paper over the pears to cover them and cook for 15-20 minutes or until pears are cooked through and tender. Remove from heat. Leave the pears in the saucepan to cool.  Once cooled, remove the pears and bring the liquid to a boil to reduce it to a thick syrup (about 10 minutes). Serve drizzled on the pears and cake.

Cardamom Coconut Cake
Makes a 6 inch round cake

125 g unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup castor sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp powdered cardamom
1 cup self raising flour
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees c for fan-forced ovens). Grease the base and sides of an 6 inch round cake pan and line the base with baking paper.
Using an electric mixer or by hand, beat the butter till soft and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat till blended. Add the eggs, one at a time along with the powdered cardamom and beat till well combined. Fold in the flour and coconut alternating with milk to combine.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out free of crumbs. Serve with poached pears, coconut flakes/shaved coconut and edible, dried rose petals.