Apple Pear Cake with Hazelnuts and Butterscotch

I'm warning you - this is going to be a long post, so grab a coffee and set awhile, why don't ya.

OK people - where in the world or at least the great U.S. of A. can you go and find the three major components of this week's sweet treat? Why, Oregon of course. You can't be all that surprised since it's no secret I worship the ground it stands on, but let me edu-ma-cate you.

Personally I can vouch for the fact there are very few areas in Oregon along I-5 and/or throughout the Rogue River area or Willamette Valley that you don't see apples, pears or hazelnuts and believe me, if butterscotch grew on trees you'd find it there too.

For example, while there are a ton of apples grown in the East and in the West, Washington State out produces Oregon by the megaton as far as apples go, there are 5,800 acres/62,000 tons of Eve's favorite fruit grown in Oregon every year which represents approximately two percent of the nation's apple harvest. As for pears, Oregon ranks second in the United States in terms of fresh pear production (266,000 tons = $76 million annually) so it's no stretch to say that pears are Oregon's numero uno treefruit crop and the reason they're Oregon's state fruit.

Now, as to the last major component of this fabulous cake - Oregon's Willamette Valley produces approximately 99 percent of the hazelnuts (aka filberts) grown in the United States and ranks as one of the top five producers in the world. That's a lot of nuts - like somewhere in the vicinity of $42 million worth. So don't you think that maybe we should be calling this the Oregon Harvest cake, eh?

Several versions of this wonderful treat have been making the "blogland" rounds but my particular effort was inspired by the Apple Dapple Cake in Southernplate.com.  This fabulous recipe showcases apples and pecans - it's a beautiful thing but a real killer in the calorie department. I figured if I could rework it some to make it more calorie wise (umhum) then I could have a bigger slice.

I replaced some of the oil with apple sauce, reduced the sugar a bit, added pears along with the apples, and replaced the pecans with hazelnuts. Oh, I also added some baking powder to lighten up the finished product a little, added some butterscotch chips to the mix and decreased the butterscotch topping by half. 

The result - well it's amazing; incredibly moist, dense, rich, full of apple/pear flavor and as for the butterscotch? It is sinful, purely sinful. Oregon, I salute you! I rest my case.

Apple Pear Cake with Hazelnuts and Butterscotch (adapted from Southernplate.com)

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1-1/3 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped

2 pears, peeled, cored and chopped

1 cup chopped hazelnuts

1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 10 inch bundt pan or tube pan with cooking spray. Set aside. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together vegetable oil and sugar until mixed. With motor running add eggs one at a time. Add applesauce and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Add sifted dry ingredients and mix just until blended. Fold in apples, pears, hazelnuts and butterscotch chips. Pour into prepared pan and bake in preheated 350 oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool cake on rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the outside and inside of the cake and invert carefully onto a serving plate. Prepare glaze while cake is cooling:

Glaze:

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla                                                             

In a small saucepan combine sugar, butter and cream. Stir well and heat over medium low heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm and smooth. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir well to combine. Pour over cake while both glaze and cake are still warm. Download Apple Pear Cake with Hazelnuts and Butterscotch

 

 

Comments

[pam]

You can tell by looking at it that it is so lovely and dense and moist!

[June]

It really is Pam. Unfortunately the pics we took of a slice didn't turn out very well so I can't prove it, but the people at the big guy's office could vouch for it.

[Nanan]

I bet your house smelled heavenly when you baked this! I love pears!!!

[June]

It was fabulous Lea! Just so happens I made it the same day I made the french bread and the combination made the whole neighborhood smell yummy. I love pears too.

[Mags]

Hazelnuts are so difficult to find around here but the last time we went to a food co-op in the city I picked up some and threw them in the freezer, waiting on a recipe to use them in. This cake looks fantastic.

[June]

It's a great cake Mags and darned if I'm not going to have to make another one. I sent the rest of it to work with the big guy and now I'm craving a piece with my morning coffee. I may try it in as a cupcake/muffin next time.