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Article Cards Featured Image As part of Harry & David's seasonal chef program, Chef Elizabeth Falkner developed this unique Pear Coffee Cake recipe using our famous Royal Riviera Pears.

Upside Pear Crunch Coffee Cake Recipe

A spin on a classic recipe.

Harry and David

Oct 20, 2012

Harry & David has partnered with the esteemed Chef Elizabeth Falkner in October to kick off our Seasonal Chef Program. Each month a top culinary expert will create seasonally inspired recipes featuring Harry & David's Fruit of the Month. We are excited to showcase Chef Falkner's unique interpretation of the Royal Riviera® Pears in October, and today we are sharing with you the first of three delectable recipes that you can create at home.


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Upside Pear Crunch Coffee Cake
Upside Pear Crunch Coffee Cake

Ingredients
  • For the crunch
  • 1 ½ cup demerara sugar (or brown sugar)
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon (ground)
  • 14 tablespoon nutmeg (ground)
  • 12 tablespoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • For the coffee cake
  • 2 Harry & David® Royal Riviera® Pears (cored and sliced into 1/2 " slices with skin on)
  • 4 ounces unsalted butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 14 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cup flour
  • 1 ½ tablespoons baking powder
  • 12 tablespoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon salt

Instructions
    1
  • For the crunch
  • 2
  • Work all ingredients together with a spatula or your fingers and set aside.
  • 3
  • For the coffee cake
  • 4
  • Preheat the oven to 325˚ F convection. Cream the butter and sugar together with a spatula or in a mixer with paddle attachment.

  • 5
  • Add the eggs and combine to emulsify.
  • 6
  • Add the sour cream, milk and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
  • 7
  • Add dry ingredients just to combine.
  • 8
  • Sprinkle half of the crunch mixture divided between 2 loaf pans. Divide the Harry & David Royal Riviera® Pears slices lined down each loaf pan on top of the crunch layer.

  • 9
  • Divide coffee cake batter over the pears in each pan.

  • 10
  • Finally, divide the rest of the crunch over the batter in each pan.

  • 11
  • Bake for 30 minutes until cake is set.
  • 12
  • To serve
  • 13
  • Cool completely, this takes awhile, be patient. Then invert cake upside when cool, slice and serve.

Notes

Chef Elizabeth Falkner: Falkner is a seasoned veteran in the world of network culinary competitions and author of Cooking Off the Clock: Recipes From My Downtime, published just last month by Ten Speed Press. She will be opening a new Brooklyn pizzeria named Krescendo later this fall and will be appearing again fighting for redemption on Food Network’s The Next Iron Chef premiering November 2012.