Pear Crumb Cake

OK guys. I exactly followed the recipe and I'm considered a good cook but lousy on the pastries. The cake came out great and even more flavorful the next day. My ONLY comment would be to use double the pears. I used two small pears as suggested and would like the cake even more with a thick layer of fruits.

When you combine the flour with the butter first, the fat in the butter surrounds the flour particles, preventing them from taking on too much liquid later so less gluten is developed. Also there are fewer bubbles, so you get a more tender cake with a fine crumb but it won't rise as high. Basically it creates a cake with a different texture.

I couldn't bring myself to use a tablespoon of vanilla extract. I suspected that would massively overpower the cake. In 50 years of cooking, I've never seen a cake recipe that called for so much vanilla! So I used just one teaspoon and it turned out fine.

I made this in a bundt pan. I buttered the pan, put the crumb in, then pears then the batter. I also put any juice from cooking the pears into the batter. It came out lovely and moist and you could taste the pears throughout the cake. The crumb came out crunchy and just right. Try it. The cake didn't last long!

A victim of feast-induced torpor, I rashly set about making this labor-intensive confection with no regard for the size bowls required for topping and egg mixture.

I went large.

A series of unfortunate missteps ensued: Absent a big bowl for cake ingredients, I used a small. Instead of the egg mixture, I added the topping.

After transferring this gummy dough to my now-free large vessel, I tossed in the egg mix. Fruit nestled between two layers of batter.

My Pear Stumble.

Tasty!

Never mind, I used the full tablespoon and it came out tasting wonderful.

Excellent! I did not change a thing and everyone loved it! It lasted a number of days, too, without drying out or becoming less toothsome!

I wish I had read the comments because your cake pan MUST be 2" deep or it will overflow! My pan was 1.5" deep and I got quite a mess. Tasted good but... a bit of cleanup. Why don't they have this warning in the instructions?? Sigh. Also, it makes way more crumb topping than needed. I expect better from the NYT. The cake is delicious but apparently not all 9" cake pans are alike.

Overflowed 9-inch cake pan, use 10-inch spring form pan.

Loved this cake. Took it for a hostess gift on two separate occasions and have been invited back to both homes!

Much better coffee cakes out there. The crumb topping was good and the pears stayed in place but the cake was dry and not a very good flavor or texture. Much better ways to spend your time and calories

It was good, but I think next time i will put more pears and cook in a bigger mold for thinner cake with more pears between crumbles and cake

Use a springform pan! My round, 9” layer cake pan was too shallow to contain the batter. A large portion of the batter became a flaming mess on the oven floor. Fortunately, sufficient batter remained in the pan to become a delicious, albeit funny looking cake. I recommend lining the springform pan with buttered and floured parchment or waxed paper so the cake can be easily removed to a cake plate for serving.

i used left over fresh cranberries that i cooked in orange juice and sugar instead of the pears. lovely

This cake was delicious! Huge, but delicious. I shared with neighbors and look forward to substituting apples when the pears are gone.