FRUITY BAKES

Brown butter pear cake

This cake gets its nutty flavour by cooking the butter until the milk solids turn golden – it takes a bit longer but is worth it for the flavour. If you don’t have time, just skip step 2 and add some vanilla or cinnamon to the sponge instead.

■ Serves 8 ■ Prep 30 mins plus chilling and cooling ■ Cook 50 mins VEGITERIAN

175g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for the tin
3-4 Williams pears, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
150g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
150g self-raising flour
½ tsp baking powder

1 Melt 25g of the butter in a frying pan, then cook until browned and nutty. Add the pears and 1 tbsp of the sugar and cook for a few minutes, turning in the butter until caramelised and syrupy. Cool.

Melt the remaining butter in a pan and keep cooking until it turns golden