Pear Charlotte: Easy Sponge Cake with Fresh Pears

Step-by-step recipe

1. Homemade pear charlotte is especially good when the fruit is ripe and very fragrant. Ideally the pears shouldn't be dripping with juice, and they should hold their shape. You don't have to peel the thin skin: it softens during baking and is hardly noticeable. It's important to carefully remove the stems and seeds, as well as the hard inner part that looks like glassy sand, which can happen. Cut the flesh into wedges lengthwise. Small pears can be cut into 6 pieces, larger ones into 8-10 wedges.
   
2. Sponge batter is easy to mix with a mixer. Break five eggs into the mixer bowl and add one extra yolk. Add a cup of sugar plus 1 heaping tbsp more. Beat the eggs and sugar with the mixer until a thick foam starts to form. For flavor, we usually add lemon zest to a sponge. For pear charlotte we decided to stick with vanilla and added a few drops of honey flavoring. You could probably just add 1 tbsp of natural honey, but honey doesn't like heat or any heat treatment at all. Besides, the flavoring gives an intense aroma.
   
3. Add a heaping cup of sifted flour to the batter. Mix with the mixer until the batter is completely smooth and glossy. The sponge batter should have the consistency of thick honey and should flow when you tilt the bowl. You'll pour it over the filling in the pan, and it has to spread evenly and fill all the gaps.
   
4. Pear charlotte is usually baked in a round springform pan or a pan with a removable bottom. Grease the bottom and sides of the pan with vegetable oil. Add 1-2 tbsp of flour. Tilt and shake the pan to spread the flour over the sides and bottom in an even layer. If any bald spots appear, sprinkle a pinch of flour on them. Shake out the excess flour. Then pour in about a third of the batter and tilt the pan to spread it over the bottom.
   
5. Lay half of the pear wedges on top of the batter. In general, the arrangement doesn't matter much. I'd suggest laying the wedges in a fan, fairly tightly together, with the thicker end toward the edge of the pan. The wedges are heavy and sink into the batter a little. That's normal.
   
6. Pour all the remaining batter over the pear pieces. Make sure the batter fills all the gaps and runs right to the edge of the pan. If needed, level the batter with a silicone spatula. It also helps to pick up the pan and rock it from side to side so the batter spreads better.
   
7. Arrange the remaining pear wedges in a fan on top of the batter. Because there's a lot of batter and the layer is thick, the wedges may “sink” into it. That's normal, since the sponge rises considerably in the oven and the pieces of fruit will hardly be visible. Preheat the oven to 180-190°C. By the way, springform pans often leak a little and let batter through at the seam, so it's better to set them on a baking tray or inside a solid pan of larger diameter.
   
8. Pear charlotte usually bakes for about 1 hour, though depending on the amount and juiciness of the fruit it may take longer. Check doneness by piercing the cake with a wooden skewer: if no wet batter sticks to it, it's done. Because the sponge rises, don't place the pan high in the oven, or the batter may stick to the ceiling or the upper heating elements.
   
9. Take the finished pear charlotte out of the oven. Carefully remove the pan's rim or removable bottom and move the cake to a wooden board or a large plate of a suitable size. I recommend dusting the top with 1 tsp of powdered sugar: put the sugar in a tea strainer and shake it over the cake.
   
10. Pear charlotte can be served warm or cold, as you like. Cut the cake carefully with a small sharp knife held vertically, slowly slicing through the crisp top layer, which crumbles and squashes easily. It goes wonderfully with fragrant tea. Though as a dessert on its own it's unbeatable!