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    Oh My Veggies » Vegetarian Recipes » Dessert Recipes

    Pear, Chocolate & Cardamom Cake

    Published: Aug 29, 2013 · by Nicole · Updated: Aug 22, 2023 · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

    Pears and chocolate are a classic combination that get elevated to a whole other level in this gorgeous gluten free cardamom cake recipe.

    gluten free cardamom cake recipe

    Pears and chocolate. It's a classic combination that I didn't think could get any better. But add a touch of cardamom and it's transported to a whole new level in this beautiful gluten free Pear, Chocolate and Cardamom Cake.

    I love the unexpected surprise that the cardamom gives this cake. On the surface it looks like a simple chocolate and pear cake.

    However it's the cardamom that really makes this cake, and makes it a really special cake with it's beautiful, yet subtle flavour and heady scent.

    This recipe comes from the beautiful The Ethicurean Cookbook: Recipes, Foods and Spirituous Liquors, from our Bounteous Walled Garden in the Several Seasons of the year and was the first of many recipes I earmarked to try.

    Not least because I had all the ingredients on hand, because admittedly, although this book is beautiful and inspiring, quite a number of the recipes use hard to find ingredients.

    gluten free cardamom cake recipe

    I did make quite a few changes to this recipe, though.

    Firstly I replaced the caster sugar with brown sugar as I wanted a richer, more caramel flavor, which goes so well with pears.

    Next, the original recipe only called for one pear, but I doubled this because I honestly didn't think it was enough pear for the size of the cake.

    I also increased the amount of chocolate in the original recipe, because there's no such thing as too much chocolate.

    Finally, in the middle of the cake I added a layer of pear slices and chocolate, as the original recipe called for the pear and chocolate to be added on top.

    I especially love that this cake is naturally gluten-free, as long as you use a gluten-free flour.

    This is a truly beautiful cake that you need to make at least once!

    gluten free cardamom cake recipe

    More Recipes

    If you love this cake, be sure to check out these other incredible dessert recipes:

    • Cardamom Cookies with Lemon and Pistachios
    • Blood Orange Madeleines with Pistachio and Cardamom
    • Caramelised Orange and Cardamom upside-down cake

    Recipe

    Pear, Chocolate & Cardamom Cake

    Adapted from The Ethicurean Cookbook: Recipes, Foods and Spirituous Liquors, from our Bounteous Walled Garden in the Several Seasons of the year
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Email Recipe
    Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 1 hour hour
    Total Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: Dessert
    Keyword: Cardamom Cake, chocolate cake recipe, Delicious Everyday, Pear, Chocolate & Cardamom Cake
    Servings: 12 servings
    Calories: 542kcal
    Author: Oh My Veggies

    Ingredients

    • 315 g salted butter at room temperature, 11 oz
    • 315 g brown sugar 1 ½ cups
    • 5 eggs lightly beaten
    • 315 g ground almonds 11 oz
    • 50 g gluten free flour or plain flour ½ cup
    • 1 tbsp ground cardamom
    • 2 ripe pears peeled and sliced (or chopped if you prefer)
    • 100 g dark chocolate roughly chopped, 3 ½ oz, 70% cocoa
    • caster sugar for dusting
    US Customary - Metric

    Instructions

    • Preheat the oven to 160 celsius (320 Fahrenheit) and line the base and sides of a 23cm springform cake tin with baking paper.
    • Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale and creamy. Switch the mixer to low and gradually add the beaten eggs followed by the ground almonds, flour and cardamom. Mix until combined.
    • Place half the cake mixture into the prepared tin and cover with half the pear and chopped chocolate. Cover with the remaining cake mixture and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the cake and push the remaining pieces of chocolate into the top of the cake and top with the remaining pear in whatever pattern you prefer. Sprinkle the pear with caster sugar and return to the oven to bake for a further 40 minutes, or until the cake is cooked and the centre of the cake springs back when lightly touched. Remove the cake from the tin and cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. Serve at room temperature or slightly warm with a dollop of cream.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 542kcalCarbohydrates: 42gProtein: 9gFat: 39gSaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 124mgSodium: 222mgPotassium: 165mgFiber: 5gSugar: 31gVitamin A: 760IUVitamin C: 1.4mgCalcium: 107mgIron: 2.8mg
    Craving more veg-friendly recipes? Shop our collection of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, including our new Vegan Thanksgiving and Vegan Christmas cookbooks!
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    Delicious Everyday, Dessert Recipes, Gluten Free Vegetarian Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes DE

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Stephanie - The Dessert Spoon says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      Delicious! It looks so beautiful and moist. I look forward to trying this cake!

      Reply
    2. Emma Galloway says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      Love the look and sound of this cake Jennifer! Beautiful photos too xx

      Reply
    3. Rosa says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      A wonderful cake! What heavenly flavors.Cheers,Rosa

      Reply
    4. Brooke Schweers says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      5 stars
      Wow could this cake get any better?! Ive been obsessed with cardamon after I discovered how well it went with stewed apple. Gorgeous flavours and a classic combination of chocolate and pear which would leave any palette happy 🙂

      Reply
    5. Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      What a beautiful cake and a nice update on a classic combination of pears and chocolate.

      Reply
    6. Tegan @ Happy Healthy Whole says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      Your right. What a divine combination. 🙂

      Reply
    7. My Kitchen Stories says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      This is the sort of cake that I crave the most. It looks fantastic and sounds like your baking skills are tried and tested . Always better with more fruit I think too

      Reply
    8. Kathryn says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      I love the flavours in this cake - pear and chocolate is a total winner but the unexpected delight of the cardamom sounds like a real treat!

      Reply
    9. Karolina says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      Looks delecious . Perferct combination of flavours my favourite. This is as sort of cake I really want to try!

      Reply
    10. Laura (Tutti Dolci) says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      I was just baking with pears this morning! Love caradmom with pears and the chocolate sounds divine too!

      Reply
    11. Helen says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      What a gorgeous cake! I love pear and chocolate and am intrigued about the cardamom. I'm definitely going to have to make this.

      Reply
    12. Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      5 stars
      I've never been a big cake fan but add fruit and I can't get enough of it. I'd love to make this cake!

      Reply
    13. [email protected] says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      Wow!!! Definitely, a cake to die for... I am drooling!!!!!

      Reply
    14. vegeTARAian says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      You're right, this sounds like a wonderful flavour combination! Looks delicious

      Reply
    15. Deanna @ DB and Jelly says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      Such an interesting combination of flavors! It sounds delicious and looks awesome too!

      Reply
    16. Kiran @ KiranTarun.com says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      Beautiful cake! I love all the spices and ground almonds in baked goods 🙂

      Reply
    17. JENNY says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      5 stars
      I made this cake the other night, went to put it in my oven to find my element had blown. We cooked it in the BBQ, OMG it was superb. I had to make a few changes as I didnt have enough ground almond, I had some hazelnuts & pecans, mixed them all together and ground them. I was still 100gms short which I ended up replacing with flour. The cake was so moist, forget the calories - it was worth every one

      Reply
      • Jennifer says

        November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

        So glad to hear you enjoyed it Jenny 🙂 It's truly a fantastic cake, and a little bit unusual, and beautiful, with the cardamon in it. I'll definitely be making it again.

        Reply
    18. Kimberly says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      5 stars
      Delicious ! I'm definitely making thisbut I have a small question, is it necessary to use salted butter ? can I use unsalted ? Thank you !

      Reply
      • Jennifer says

        November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

        No, the salted butter isn't necessary, although I'd add a little salt to the cake if you aren't using salted butter. Around 1/2 tsp. Let me know how it turns out 🙂

        Reply
    19. Emma says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      I discovered cardamom a few years ago and I have to say, it is such a beautiful spice. And juicy pears in a cake? Sounds like a winner to me!

      Reply
    20. hermione says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      I've just made this cake. I sub'ed 1:1 butter for coconut oil, don't! the oil dripped out of the bottom of the cake tin! I also changed the sugar to half coconut sugar and half molasses sugar - has a rich caramel taste. Tastes delish, but I would halve the amount of oil I use next time. The cardamom & pear combo is great.

      Reply
      • Jennifer says

        November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

        Thanks for the feedback Hermoine. It is always interesting to hear how different ingredient substitutions work out. The cake is very rich and buttery, so I'm not surprised to hear about the oil leaking. I think using half the amount of oil or even maybe 2/3 might be better next time. If you do try it again with the reduced oil I'd love to hear how it turns out 🙂 And yes, the cardamom and pear combination is wonderful. Definitely one of my favourites. 😀

        Reply
    21. patti says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      5 stars
      I just served this recipe at a dinner party tonight and it was a delicious.. I ground roasted almonds that were lightly salted, so I used unsalted butter and was very pleased with the seasoning. I cubed the pear for the first layer and then for the top, I did a fan of pears around the edges, then created a rosebud out of smaller very thin pear slices for the middle. To add to its decadence I drizzled some hot caramel sauce over it when served. I did have to cook it 10 minutes longer to have it the correct firmness. It cut perfectly. The cardamon flavoring was a big hit. I toasted the cardamon seeds once I opened the pods to release their flavor and to make pulverized them in a mortar and pestle easier. I then sieved them to remove any unwanted chunks. I used regular King Arthur unbleached flour. Thanks so much.

      Reply
    22. zonderzooi says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      This cake looks amazing! Love the fact that you're using things as brown sugar, always better as the white version.

      Reply
    23. linda says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      baked this cake, looks just like yours. delicious too! but I did have two issues. one, the butter leaked out of the pan from the bottom and made quite a mess ! the pan seemed to be put together properly. also, had to raise the temp in the oven because it was taking so long to bake, an extra half hour to 45 mins longer. any comments would be appreciated.

      Reply
      • Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says

        November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

        I'm sorry to hear about the butter leaking Linda. I've not had that issue myself although I tend to use Push Pans (like this one http://amzn.to/1PVdU3f) when I'm baking as I find they are a little less prone to leaking than traditional springform tins. Perhaps next time you could try a regular cake tin well lined with baking paper to prevent the butter leaking. As for the extra baking time, this could be due to a couple of things, such as how juicy the pear was (if it was particularly juicy it would add to the baking time) the other is your oven calibration (a good way to test your oven is to bring it to temperature and then place an oven thermometer inside to ensure that the temperature on the dial matches the internal temperature). My final thought on the extra baking time could be due to the size of the eggs you used. I used large eggs (which in Australia weigh around 56g or 2oz). If you used larger eggs that would also have contributed to the additional baking time. I hope this helps. And I'm so glad you enjoyed the cake. It truly is a gorgeous cake. If you enjoy cardamom you might also like my orange and cardamom upside down cake. 🙂

        Reply
        • linda says

          November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

          thanks for your prompt reply, I'll try that pan.

          Reply
    24. Jen says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      4 stars
      Meh. I was really excited about the flavors in this cake, but I didn't love the cardamom.

      Reply
      • Nicole says

        November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

        If you don't love cardamom, this is definitely not the cake for you! Thanks for trying it out.

        Reply
    25. Pip says

      November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

      5 stars
      Love the flavour of this cake. This was my second attempt at making it & this time around I decreased the Brown Sugar & Butter (Unsalted) to 215Grams (no more oozing butter out of Springtin) & defintly sweet enough If using Large eggs 4 will do. I also used Gluten Free Flour & Ripe but still Firm pears. Cooked on fan forced for an extra 10mins after testing. Cuts really well. A firm favourite now. Could be served with Greek Style Coconut Cream & a drizzle of Honey on the side.

      Reply
    4.79 from 19 votes (12 ratings without comment)

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    Nicole is a life long vegetarian and the author of the popular vegan cookbook, Weeknight One Pot Vegan Cooking. She loves sharing her recipes and showing the world just how easy and delicious meatless meals can be!
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