Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Pear & Salted Carmel Cake & A Baker's Dream Giveaway!

By: The Food Hunter

Have you ever opened a cookbook and instantly fell in love with the exquisite photos and delicious recipes?  This is exactly what happened to me with Hillary Davis' cookbook, French Desserts.

I've never been to France but simply browsing through this cookbook made me realize how much I would love the desserts in France. Recipes like the Pear & Salted Carmel Cake (below), Lime Yogurt Cake, Butter Cake, and more fill the pages of this delightful cookbook.


But having a good cookbook is pointless without quality bakeware. I recently got to try the Anolon Advanced Bronze Bake-ware Set and loved it. The 5 piece set includes just about everything a home baker needs to create the delicious treats found in the French Desserts cookbook. What makes this set special are the wide rims fitted with silicone handle grips for easy use.

Delicious desserts also deserve to be sliced professionally. The gourmet cake knife from WÜSTHOF has a nice serrated edge for easy cutting and a wide blade for serving. It was a pleasure to be able to cut through the cake without having it crumble.

When it comes to baking like a pro, the right kitchen tools really do make a difference. Bowls, graters, and extracts are all equally important so stick with brands you know and trust, like Nielsen-Massey, Microplane, Anolon , and WÜSTHOF . These gracious sponsors have provided us with the items in our bakers dream giveaway.  Enter below for your chance to win!

Check out more recipes from our group:
Mini Raspberry Croissants 
Fabulous Butter Cake
Laughing Cow Sugar Cookies
Chocolate Sables


Pear & Salted Carmel Cake

For the Cake
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup half-and-half
2 pounds (3 to 4) firm pears


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line the loaf pan with parchment paper cut so that it overhangs the short sides by 2 inches and another piece of parchment paper cut so that it overhangs the long sides by 2 inches. You will use these overhangs as a sling to lift the cake out of the pan after it is baked.

Using the mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar until pale and thick, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat to combine. Add the flour, salt, butter, and half-and-half; mix until combined.

Do not peel the pears. Simply cut them into very thin slices and stir them into the batter. It will look like it is all pears, and you will not see much batter once it is all mixed.

Scoop this mixture into the loaf pan, pat it down flat, and bake for 45-55 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Take the cake out of the oven, and increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees F.


For the topping
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup half and half
4 tablespoons salted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat the brown sugar, half-and half, butter, and salt in a saucepan until it comes to a boil then let it bubble away for 2 minutes.

Poke holes in the top of the cake with a fork or a skewer. Pour half of the hot carmel mixture over the cake and place the cake back into the oven to bake for another 12 minutes. Reserve the remaining sauce.

Remove the cake from the oven, cool for 5 minutes, then gently lift with the parchment paper and slip the cake onto a serving plate. Remove the parchment paper and cool to room temperature for 20 minutes.

To serve, use a serrated knife to gently cut the cake into 1-inch-thick slices and ladle a bit f warm caramel sauce over the top.

 *****Baker's Dream Giveaway*****
One giveaway winner will receive a copy of French Desserts by Hillary Davis, an Anolon Advanced Bronze 5-piece baking set, a Paula Deen 3-piece mixing bowl set, a WÜSTHOF GOURMET 6-inch Cake Knife, a Microplane Premium Classic Spice Grater and Spice Cup Grater, and Nielsen-Massey almond and lemon extracts.
A second winner will receive a copy of French Desserts by Hillary Davis.


  a Rafflecopter giveaway



This post is organized by Virtual Potluck and sponsored by Anolon, WÜSTHOF, Paula Deen, Microplane, Gibbs-Smith, and Nielsen-Massey, who provided products to the participating bloggers as well as items for our giveaway. As Always, all opinions are my own.

79 comments:

  1. WoW. You do have some great give-a-ways!!
    I love the bakeware if I need to choose!
    The cookbook sounds fabulous too. Ooh la la !!

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  2. Oh my goodness this does look amazing! What a treat to serve!!

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  3. The cake looks so delicious!! I love the pear and caramel combination.
    And those bowls are SO much fun!!

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  4. Looks delicious!! I love the striped mixing bowls but I think having a real cake knife would benefit me most!

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  5. I'm most excited for the cookbook!! Would love a copy of it!

    Also, I'm having a giveaway too on my website (Actually a series of giveaways!) and would love if you could drop by and enter! :)

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  6. What a bonanza package to win! All the items are fantastic, but I think we would really like the WÜSTHOF GOURMET 6-inch Cake Knife best.

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  7. I follow you on instagram @rusthawk1.

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  8. Love that cake! I think I need to go make that now!

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  9. I'm following you, Food Hunter, Cookie Dough & Oven Mitt, and bowlmeover on Instagram - @royalegacy

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  10. I am excited about the cookbook. yes.4eva.r@gmail.com

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  11. Gosh, how amazing does this cake sound and awesome giveaway too. I need to enter

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  12. What a fun giveaway and that cake looks amazing!

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  13. I am interested in the almond and lemon extracts.

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  14. I am most excited about the Microplane Premium Classic Spice Grater and Spice Cup Grater.

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  15. I am excited about all of them but I could really use those bowls!

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  16. All the prizes are great but the Microplane Premium Classic Spice Grater and Spice Cup Grater would be my favorite.

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  17. I follow https://www.instagram.com/foodhunter/.

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  18. I follow https://www.instagram.com/bowl_me_over/.
    Note: You have the wrong link in the entry field for following Bowl Me Over.

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  19. I follow https://www.instagram.com/mmirnanda/.

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  20. The cake looks delicious, but I love the silicon handles on those pans! I have never seen baking pans like that.

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  21. Yum! You're right ... French desserts are the best kind of desserts, and I looove pears! Plus, I totally agree that the right cookware and utensils are key to great recipes!

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  22. The Anolon 5 piece bakeware would really be a blessing this year!

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  23. I follow on instagram @thehippiehut32

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  24. YUM! Pear and salted caramel are the perfect combinations for the fall. Thank you for sharing!

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  25. I love those red and white striped bowls!! SO cute!

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  26. I have seeking a recipe like this one! Thank you so much for posting!

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  27. I followed bowl_me_over on instagram as well as the one you posted, just in case. I also follow Foodhunter and mmimanda. my handle is hippiehut32

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  28. I am most excited by the 5 piece bakeware set.

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  29. I love that 3-piece mixing bowl set!

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  30. Great giveaway and that cake sounds wonderful!

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  31. I'm excited about the Paula Deen 3-piece mixing bowl set.

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  32. That sounds utterly divine! A great way to use up those pears lurking in the fridge!

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  33. That cake looks amazing! And I wouldn't mind winning that prize!

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  34. I am most excited about those gorgeous bowls!

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  35. I am totally excited about those bowls!

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  36. Love those bowls! Plus, I could use some baking supplies!

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  37. I love to bake so it is the vanilla that I want to win

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  38. Just entered to win! That cake looks amazing and I would LOVE that cookbook!

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  39. The 5 piece baking set from Anolon.

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  40. The bowls are GORGEOUS! My favorite mixing bowl fell victim to a re careless moment... :-(

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  41. I'm most excited about the Anolon Advanced Bronze 5-piece baking set.

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  42. excited to win the Paula Deen 3-piece mixing bowl set

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  43. Follow Cookie Dough & Oven Mitt on Instagram - susitravl

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  44. It's hard to select a favorite item in your giveaway, but I think the cookbook sounds awesome from your description. And I have to also say that this pear and salted caramel cake has to be made in my kitchen very, very soon! Thanks for the chance in your giveaway!

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  45. I saw this photo on your Instagram and HAD to come see the recipe! YUMMY!

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  46. Yum! I love baked pears, they have such a beautiful naturally sweet flavour. Also, this baking set looks divine!

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  47. This looks heavenly - baked pears are one my favorite desserts! :)

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  48. Get in my Belly!!! Leah B

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  49. I'm most excited about the mixing bowl set!

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  50. What a fantastic giveaway. That cake knife is gorgeous. As for the cake - this needs to be on everyone's holiday table - yum!

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  51. The recipe looks amazing and oh my the cookware

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  52. I would love the Paula Deen 3-piece mixing bowl set

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  53. The Pear and Salted Caramel Cake looks divine! Absolutely love the Analon Baking Set! Very timely and generous giveaway!

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  54. The French Desserts book is the item I'm most excited about, I love all things French.

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  55. I am most excited about some new pans! My pans are so old and need to be replaced so badly.

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  56. Those stripey bowls have my name written all over 'em!

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  57. I love the Anolon Advanced Bronze 5-piece baking set. But what I love is your cake. Oh my gosh, looks amazing!

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  58. The 5-piece baking set! I LOVE Anolon!

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  59. The bowls are amazing! Love the stripes and perfect for mixing ingredients separately.

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  60. I'm most excited about the Advanced Bronze 5-piece baking set!

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  61. love those red striped bowls. So cheery looking.

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  62. I follow Food Hunter on Instagram as sandyheadtke.

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  63. I follow Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt on Instagram as sandyheadtke

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  64. I follow Bowl_Me_Over on Instagram as sandyheadke

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  65. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  66. aweso0me prizes and love your site

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  67. The stripey bowls are really cool.

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  68. The pans! Thanks for the giveaway.

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  69. This looks absolutely delicious! Awesome giveaway, too! :)

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