Vegan Spiced Pear Cake
This vegan spiced pear cake recipe is served with a vanilla drizzle on top. It’s a delightfully indulgent dessert for weekend parties or even weeknight desserts.
Pear cake recipes are the best, but you might also like these pear donuts. They’re like the cake, but perfectly proportioned into single servings!
Every time I pass the pears in the produce section, I want to buy them. There’s something about a large, green pear with some spots of red that calls to me. The problem with pears is that if you don’t eat them soon enough, they can get mushy.
What’s one to do with a mushy pear? I say…let’s make cake!
Not that I need encouragement to make something sweet in the kitchen. 😊
Key Ingredients
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
- Flour — I used a combination of all-purpose flour and whole wheat pastry flour in this recipe. To make it gluten-free, substitute gluten-free baking flour.
- Coconut Sugar — You can substitute brown sugar.
- Spices — We’ll use both ground ginger and ground cinnamon to add a dash of spice.
- Apple Cider Vinegar — this creates a nice, tender crumb and combines with baking soda to create lift.
- Vegetable oil — this adds moisture and tenderness to the cake crumb.
- Fresh Pear — the star of the show.
How to Make Spiced Pear Cake
Here are the major steps in this tasty vegan pear cake recipe:
- Mix Dry Ingredients — Stir together the flours, sugar, salt, baking soda, and spices. Add the pear pieces and stir until they’re coated.
- Combine Wet Ingredients — Stir together the vegetable oil, water, vinegar, and vanilla.
- Pour and Bake — Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool and Frost — Allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar or top with vegan vanilla frosting.
Baking Options
- Make pear cake cupcakes by lining a cupcake pan with papers and filling each until about 3/4 full. Bake them for about 20 minutes, until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- For a bund cake, pour the batter into a greased bundt pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
- For a 9×13 cake, pour the batter into a prepared 9×13 cake pan, and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Make a layer cake by baking the cakes in two round pans for 30 minutes. Then frost with vegan cream cheese frosting between the layers and on top.
Marly’s Tips
Be sure to have the oven preheated and the pan(s) prepared before mixing the wet and dry ingredients.
Adding a vanilla glaze is a nice touch to just about any cake. I especially like that little bit of added sweetness to a bundt cake. It makes every bite extra special!
Preventing Pear Plunge
An important trick when making this spiced pear cake is to add the chopped pear pieces in with the flour and give them a quick stir. Coating the fruit with flour may help prevent them from sinking to the bottom.
It’s a trick I learned when making vegan blueberry muffins. The same theory holds true with this vegan pear cake.
However you slice it, this vegan spiced pear cake could be served with my Vegan Skinny Hot Cocoa. I make it with green tea which is so good for you.
Reader Reviews
★★★★★
Linda
I made this pear cake for my aunt’s birthday and everyone loved it!
More Vegan Cake Recipes
That’s it for this vegan pear cake recipe. Look below the recipe card for even more National cake day recipes.
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Vegan Spiced Pear Cake
Ingredients
Spiced Pear Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 ½ cup coconut sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- 2 cup cold water
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 pear , chopped
Vanilla Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons plant-based milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. Spray a bundt pan with vegetable spray, being sure to cover all indentions.
- Combine in a large mixing bowl the flours, sugar, salt, baking soda, and spices. Stir to combine.
- In a smaller bowl, combine the vegetable oil, water, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir to combine.
- Add the chopped pear pieces to the flour, and stir until the pieces are coated. Then pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture. Stir until combined.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes before inverting it onto a serving plate. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar or top with Vanilla Frosting.
- While you're waiting for the cake to cool, combine the powdered sugar and coconut oil in a bowl. Stir to spread the coconut throughout the sugar. Add the plant-based milk, one tablespoon at a time, until you reach a desired, spreadable consistency. Once the cake has cooled, drizzle this over the top of the cake.
Recommended Equipment
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The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Celebrate National Cake Day
It’s National Cake Day and I’m whooping it up by joining with some other awesome food bloggers to share some amazing cake recipes with you.
I realize not all these recipes are vegan. If you’d like help with veganizing any of them, just let me know.
Here are the recipes we’re offering this month for national cake day:
- Everyone loves this tasty Vegan Coffee Cake
- Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cake by Ashlee Marie
- Gingerbread Spice Cake by Life Made Simple
- Chocolate Wacky Cake
- Lemon Curd Cupcakes by the Baker Upstairs
- Chocolate Avocado Cake
- Vegan Blueberry Cake
- Fudgy Grasshopper Cake via Creations by Kara
- Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake by Food with Family
- Vegan Cinnamon Roll Poke Cake
- Cranberry Pound Cake by Real Mom Kitchen
- Best Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream by Gather with Bread
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cake
- Easy Vegan Vanilla Wacky Cake
- Marly’s Vegan Coconut Cake.
I made this pear cake for my aunt’s birthday and everyone loved it!
Love this! Can’t wait to try making it and serving it my family.