Country Boy and I have been watching River Cottage on iview recently (so we can watch it uninterrupted). We imagine that our life is something like his, despite the different country, and the fact that we don’t have our own restaurant, chefs, game keepers, butchers or bakers. Apart from that, our lives are exactly the same*.

On the episode we watched on Friday, Hugh (the owner of river cottage) made a pear cake. I got all inspired and decided to have a go at making my own. Hugh’s recipe had ground almonds, but I didn’t have any, so I made up my own recipe.

Ingredients
180g butter
2/3 c brown sugar
1/2 c honey
3 eggs
1 3/4c plain flour
1 1/2t baking powder
1t cinnamon
1t ground ginger
1/2 c milk
2 pears

Method
1. Preheat oven to 160*c (180*c if not fan forced).
2. Cream butter and brown sugar until pale.
3. Beat in honey, and then eggs.
4. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger.
5. Stir in flour and milk alternately into the butter and egg mix.
6. Pour batter into a greased 30cm spring form pan (I also put some baking paper on the base).
7. Peel pears and cut into quarters, then into eighths. Make sure there is no core left.
8. Arrange the pears on top of the cake.
9. Bake for 50 minutes or until cooked through.
10. Enjoy with a dollop of thick cream mmmmmmm.

*we both live on a farm and grow food!