Pear and almond cake (gluten free + lactose free)

I made a cake. Again. I really wish I could finally show you some photos of breakfast/lunch/dinner proposals, but I end up baking more and more cakes! The thing is, whenever I make dinner or prepare something warm, it disappears so quickly that I cannot take any photos. Cause it's simply... gone. I know it sounds ridiculous, but that's the reality. And I really am trying to work on it! I just got a package from my boyfriend's mom with (i.a.) so many amazing oils (hazelnut oil is simply incredible!!) that now I have to use them and show some results here. Especially that I really do prefer savoury to sweets! It doesn't look like this so far, I know. But there will be changes (hopefully!).

Anyway, the recipe of today is the the pear and almond cake I found on My Darling Lemon Thyme (slightly adapted). I love everything that has almonds in it, so I was more than sure that the cake must be good. It was a lovely day, so I dragged my boyfriend out of the house (come on, it's sunny!) and we started the pear-hunting. For the last two weeks the shelves that usually hold loads of vegetables and fruit very empty (terrible times!), so it was quite a challenge to find some pears. After stopping by to more stores that I can count, we finally found what we needed and we headed home. And so I started to peel the pears, gather all ingredients and to heat up the oven. I simply love this moment. When all the ingredients are out on the kitchen table, the oven is slowly heating up and I can just enjoy the kitchen magic. Wow, it sounds so terrible! Too bad, I really feel amazing, when I cook and bake. Especially when an hour or two later I can see pure joy in my boyfriend's eyes, when he's looking at his plate filled with food. Getting back to the cake! It turned out really tasty and aromatic, and the combination of pears and almonds is so good!

Ingredients (for a 24 cm baking form):

4 eggs

140 g of sugar

300 g of almond flour

3 pears

45 g of rice flour

80 ml olive oil / rice oil

lemon zest (from 1 lemon)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger

a pinch of salt

powdered sugar for dusting

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease the baking form and cover it with a baking paper.

2. Peel the pears and cut them into small thin pieces. Leave out half of 1 pear and slice it into bigger (but still thin) pieces to put them on the top of the cake.

3. Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract together with a mixer, until thick and pale (for around 5 minutes).

3. Still beating, add lemon zest and oil. Then continue adding almond flour, rice flour, baking powder and the spices and keep mixing until the batter gets smooth.

4. Using a spoon, gently fold in the pear pieces into the batter.

5. Pour the batter into the baking form and distribute the bigger pear pieces on the top of the cake.

6. Bake the cake for around 55-60 mins (check with a skewer if the cake is dry). Afterwards take it out from the oven and let it cool for a while.

Hint for myself: prepare a caramel sauce next time you bake this cake! (The cake is amazing on its own, it's just a quick thought that it might be even better with a caramel sauce...)