October 31, 2005
Gâteau de Mamy à la Poire
[This is the republication of a post originally featured in October of 2003.]
On Sunday, Marie-Laure came over "pour le goûter". Le goûter is the afternoon snack kids are given when they come out of school around 4. In my family (by that I mean "at my parents'"), it is also called simply le thé, and is practically an institution. Around 5 on weekends, somebody will invariably ask "on fait le thé?" (alternatively "on prend le goûter?"). Cookies or cake (often home-baked by my mother) will be served, washed down by liters of tea. It is a habit I am very fond of, and one that I am always happy to indulge in when I can.
And so, I baked a cake.
I used a family standby called "Gâteau de Mamy". As the name implies, this is my grandmother's recipe, which she calls "Gâteau d'Ella" because it was her dear friend Ella's recipe originally. It's anybody's guess what Ella used to call it. This is in fact an upside down cake, meaning that you lay fresh fruit at the bottom of the cake pan, and then pour the batter on top. Sort of the cake equivalent of the tarte tatin.
The resulting cake is golden, incredibly moist, light and fruity, with a slightly crusty edge, and it is very hard to stop at just one slice. But if you do and there are leftovers, your reward will be that this cake is even better the next day...
Gâteau de Mamy à la Poire
- 125g (1 stick plus 1 Tbsp) salted butter
- 4 large pears or 6 small ones (substitute apples, apricots, plums...)
- 150g (3/4 C) sugar
- 2 eggs
- 60g (1/2 C) all-purpose flour
- 20g (2 tablespoons) ground almonds
- Half of an envelope (1 1/2 tsp) baking powder
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Melt the butter in a small bowl and set aside to cool. Butter a non-stick 8-inch cake pan.
Wash, peel and cut up the pears. Lay the pieces of fruit at the bottom of the pan.
In a food processor or a medium mixing-bowl, blend the sugar with the eggs until the mixture whitens slightly. Add in the flour, almond powder and baking powder, and blend well. Pour in the butter, and blend again. Pour the batter evenly over the fruit, and put into the oven to bake for 40 to 50 minutes.
Let the cake settle on a cooling rack for a few minutes. Invert it on a plate (the fruit side will be on top). If any bit of fruit has stuck to the bottom of the pan, simply scrape them and place them back where they belong on the cake. Use a second plate to invert the cake again (the fruit side will then be at the bottom). Let cool and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
 Daim Cake |
 Raspberry Yogurt Cake |
 Quince Almond Cake |
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Now this cake sounds really delicious! My mother and I also used to have a "goûter" on Saturdays afternoon... Those were the days...
OOOOh, THE famous "French goûter", délectation des grands gourmands...à 16 heures sonnantes et trébuchantes, au restaurant, je me sers systématiquement au moment de partir en pause, ma tartelette aux pores, ou aux figues.
Joli clin d'oeil au passage.
Bon, puis-je m'en servir une part ?
Please..thanks so much, indeed...(the doigt levé...)
Emmanuel
Lovely!!!.J'aimerais être avec vous .
Aha! Perfect timing, I am at my parents and we have a glut of pears thanks to the tree in the garden getting buffetted by the winds. I shall make this cake. Thanks muchly.
It seems absolutely amazing. I love pears.
Chere Clotilde, so I made the gateau & served for tea today when our friends came. I was sure they will like it, wow, they are great ! I got red pears at the market & they did well, what a lovely cake that is ! The only thing was I baked it at 400F in US oven, the top came out very black but I covered it with powdered sugar, voila, it looked very pretty, merci mille fois. elizabeth
Dear Clotilde,
I made this gateau over the weekend and it was fabulous. My husband said that it just melted in his mouth. Thank you for your tasty recipes and for giving me the inspiration to try new things. Deanna
Clotilde,
I made this cake on Sunday for tea. My parents loved it! Thank you so much for this simple and delicious recipe!
And here it was a succes as well, very yummy! A bit sweet though, as my pears were quite ripe. Interesting to see how the texture and flavours change while the temerature changes (I had to try straight from the oven, lukewarm and at roomtemp....)today is the 'next day', can't wait 'till teatime!
Quelle merveille !
I had the same experience as Elizabeth. Blackened top but also not quite done after 45 minutes! I recommend baking it at 375 instead of 400...and for the full 50 minutes. So so good! Thank you!
I'm really glad this turned out well for those of you who tried it, thank you for reporting back!
Elizabeth and Caroline, sorry yours turned out black on top -- oven temps are very difficult because not all ovens have the same accuracy. I hope you'll make it again and tweak the temp!
I made the cake this past weekend and had the same results .. black top, a trifle less done inside than I would have liked. Next time I'll try 375. It was still wonderful -- thanks for the recipe!
I made this for a Thanksgiving get together... I don't know what size French pears are... but I couldn't fit more than 2 small comice and 1/2 a standard sized barlett pear on the bottom of my cake pan! How large are the pear slices supposed to be, Clotilde? Perhaps this is why the cake turned out a tad try where was wasn't any fruit. But it was still good and looked very pretty served fruit side up. (I was also short on eggs and only used 1 1/2 eggs rather than 2 and didn't have any almond powder.)
I tried 375 in an American oven, as everyone suggested. At 40 min, it was all the way done, and the top and sides became brown, but not blackened. The edges was not crusty, however. I used a glass pie dish, but I don't know if that made any difference.
-berkeley girl
Perhaps this a stupid question, but I just reread your recipe and looked at the photos. It hits me that your uncooked batter looks like a thick liquid while mine was sort of a grainy cream. I used a hand-held mixer to blend the ingredients. I wasn't sure whether "until mixture whitens slightly" and "blend well" meant blend until just incorporated or what. Did I overmix the batter?
-berkeley girl
I must try this. Tonight.
Now I know what to do with my Christmas gift basket that came full of pears from Harry & David.
I will likely use an 8" spring bottom pan so I can avoid all the flipping.
Merci!
I made this cake, using apples as the fruit and adding a chopped handful or so of almonds to the batter, over the weekend. It came out absolutely incredible, moist, buttery and delicious. I love that it's mostly fruit, but the cake part is so intensely good that it definitely makes its presence felt.
As it seems to have done for some others, mine cooked faster than the recommended time; luckily I was so entranced by the gorgeous scent emanating from the oven that I couldn't resist running into the kitchen for a quick look every five minutes. When it started to get pretty brown, I stuck in a toothpick and was delighted to find I didn't have to wait any more. Then I ate like a quarter of the thing, immediately. How did anyone manage to have leftovers??
Thanks for the recipe, Clothilde - it's so easy, and the result is heavenly!
~ Melissa
Dear Clotilde,
I made two of these for Thanksgiving with hopes that they will get better tomorrow, but I couldn't resist slicing into one of the cakes and taking a bite!
I followed your recipe exactly, but then I also added some ground cardamom to the batter. It worked exceptionally well. I also cooked for 40 minutes at 375.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
I tried making this with chestnut flour (In the UK, www.shipton-mill.com stock it as a seasonal item). For the first attempt, I just used half-and-half with wheat flour, but the result was so oh-wow-that's-amazing I now use just the chestnut flour. The slight smokiness it goes so well with the fruit.
(I make it in a 20cm square pan, so to scale the recipe I keep the same amount of butter and sugar, but use 120g flour and a third egg.)
Thank you (and your grandmother, and Ella...) for a recipe that shows the goodness of simple things.
I tried this yesterday. Awesome!
Though undercooked... I used the 350F that the recipe recommends (though I wonder about that - other people said they reduced it from 400F to 375F - neither is referenced in the actual recipe). And I used a 9" round instead of an 8" - I couldn't find an 8" anywhere! I cooked it for a little less time since I had, in theory, a shallower cake. But I guess I'll increase the temp or the cooking time or both next time.
Oh, I also use ground flax seed instead of the almond since that's what I had...
Marie - The ground flax seed idea is good! As for the baking time, oven temperatures vary surprisingly widely, so it's possible yours runs a little low. (You could get an oven thermometer -- they aren't very expensive -- and check.)
Beautiful recipe, I will try it soon. My question is this, after afternoon tea, is there supper also? Around what time? What types of things would be served if tea was observed earlier in the day. It sounds very civilized.
Howard
I made this as written at 350 degrees. I tested it with toothpicks multiple times/locations, they came out dry, but when I inverted my cake it had runny batter between the pears and cake. Is there a better way to test a cake such as this?
I wound up re-inverting it onto a plate with the fruit on the bottom and just let it sit in the oven for a bit with the residual heat. Delicious! I hope to be able to perfect this recipe!
We have a bosc pear tree that is really going nuts this year. I baked this cake last night for my family and it was terrific! I didn't have any almonds to grind so I used pecans, and my all purpose flour has a bit of whole wheat flour mixed into it. Those were the only changes I made. Really light and wonderful - thanks for this recipe. I will make it again next week for the folks at work.
Ooh it's so lovely! Thank you for the recipe - it's not like any cake I've made before and tastes beautiful.
Just made this today but with apples, like the original. Beautifully light and perfect after a Sunday Roast. Thank you!
I know this is an old post, but really, this is one of the best, homey-est cakes I've ever made. I made this with apples, putting a little sprinkling of sugar at the bottom of the buttered pan to enhance the caramelization process.
I ended up using about 1.5 apples (granny smith) as they were rather large and this was plenty for me. When I poured the batter over the apples, it didn't seem to cover them enough, so doubled the cake batter. I was afraid it would overflow, but it worked out well. I did add a dash of cinnamon to the batter, just for fun.
Seriously, this will be my go-to cake from now on. So easy to make and so delicious!
Thanks for so generously sharing your grandmother's (and her friend's) recipe! I hope they're happy that their legacy will live on in all of our homes. :-)
Delighted to hear you've adopted this recipe into your own repertoire, thank you so much for reporting back!
This is one of the best desserts I've ever made, according to my husband, and I've made lots! I made it today, in a 9.5-inch springform pan. I set the oven to 350 as directed and baked it for about 45 minutes or so. I discovered that the center seems to rise up slightly like a soufflé and I think that is the key to doneness. At that time and temperature it did not turn black, but a dark golden color, though the sides did not get very crunchy. With a little but of whipped cream yum! Oh yes, I put in about 1/4 t. EACH of vanilla extract and almond extract, because the pears lacked a little, well, pearness, if you get my drift.
Thank you, Clotilde, for this wonderful recipe -- I printed it out and stuck inside one of my French cookbooks that I use all the time.
It's a pleasure to have you here, Cynthia, and I'm ever so pleased you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for sharing your tips!
I made this today and it was delicious! I used a bundt pan, and the pears almost filled it. Miraculously, there was enough room for the batter, to which I added chopped almonds and walnuts instead of ground almonds. I also left it inverted with fruit on top as it was pretty that way.
While peeling the pears, I thought to myself how they were not my favourite fruit, but after this cake I might have to change my mind. It was so delicious it made me so happy! Thank you, Clothilde.
Did the person that copied your photo and recipe ever replied to you? I ran into his post today and was perplexed for a while until I saw your comment on it. Good for you to speak up!
I'm so glad, Athicha, thank you! (And no, that person never replied and I let it go, but I am very grateful to you for pointing me to the post.)
Bonjour Clotilde,
I absolutely love this cake and so do my friends, relatives and colleagues...well simply everybody having the occasion to try it. I just adapted your recipe while adding dark chocolate as topping as I really like the taste of pears together with chocolate. Also tried yesterday with canned apricot and few almonds cutted into pieces and it was also very nice!
So thanks again for bringing this easy and tastefull recipe to me! Love your blog! Take care
I'm delighted, Tereza, and will be sure to tell my grandmother!