PECAN PEAR SPICED SOUFFLE CAKE

PREP 15 MINS COOK 1 HOUR

SERVES 10 AS AN OCCASIONAL DESSERT

2 medium (460g) pears,

unpeeled, halved lengthways 80g (2/3 cup) pecans

4 x 60g eggs

90g (¼ cup) honey

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

¾ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cloves

2 Tbsp wholemeal plain flour 1 Tbsp cornflour

40g light margarine, melted,

cooled

90g (/ cup) reduced-fat Greekstyle natural yoghurt 1 Preheat oven to 170°C (fanforced). Line an oven tray with baking paper. Grease and line base and side of a 22cm springform cake tin.

2 Place pears, skin-side up, on lined tray. Roast for 40 minutes.

3 Meanwhile, place pecans on a separate tray. Roast on another oven shelf for the last 5 minutes of pear roasting time. Set aside to cool.

4 Process ½ cup of the pecans in a small food processor until finely ground. Coarsely chop the remaining pecans. Set aside. Cut each pear half into 5 wedges (to make 20 wedges in total); removing the core if you like.

5 Use an electric mixer to whisk the eggs, honey, vanilla bean paste, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves for 10 minutes or until ribbons form when beaters are lifted. Sift the combined flours over the egg mixture. Add the ground pecans and margarine. Use a large whisk to gently incorporate ingredients.

6 Pour the batter into the tin. Bake cake on lower oven shelf for 20 minutes. Cool in tin for 5 minutes before turning, top-side up, onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cut the cake into 10 equal slices and sprinkle with the reserved pecans. Serve one cake slice and two pear wedges per person with a drizzle of yoghurt.

Nutrition info

PER SERVE 755kJ, protein 5g, total fat 10g (sat. fat 2g), carbs 16g, fibre 3g, sodium 63mg • Carb exchanges 1 • GI estimate medium