A slice of niceness

These cakes made with fresh fruit are great as desserts or as a tea-time treat.

These cakes made with fresh fruit are great as desserts or as a tea-time treat. The fruit of the pear cake sinks as it cooks, giving you a nice, soft centre.

PEAR, VANILLA & GINGER CAKE

2 ripe pears, peeled, cored, sliced

175g soft butter

200g brown sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

11/2  cups self-raising flour

3/4  teaspoon baking powder

60g glace ginger, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan).

Grease a 22cm round cake tin with butter and line with non-stick paper.

Put butter, sugar, golden syrup, eggs, vanilla, flour and baking powder in a bowl and beat with hand-held electric beaters for 1-2 minutes until it comes together; don't overbeat. Spoon mixture into cake tin. Carefully top with ginger and pear slices. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool, then remove from tin onto a wire rack. Serves 8

And to drink ... A perfumed sweet white: 2015 Oakdene Late Harvest Riesling ($23). Or a nice cup of tea.

BLUEBERRY UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

11/2  cups plain flour

11/2  teaspoons baking powder

150g sugar

1 blood (or regular) orange,

juice and finely grated zest

125g soft, unsalted butter

2 large free-range eggs

Topping

50g butter

3/4  cup packed light brown sugar

2 cups blueberries

100g pecans, halved

To make topping, melt butter in an ovenproof frying pan. Add sugar and cook, stirring, until sugar begins to bubble; remove and cool, then add blueberries and pecans to frying pan. To make cake, preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Sift flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a bowl, then add sugar, juice, zest, butter and eggs. Beat with hand-held electric beaters for 1-2 minutes until it comes together; don't overbeat. Spoon batter over pecans and blueberries. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until batter starts to pull away from sides of pan. Cool for 20 minutes, then place a plate on top and flip onto plate. Serves 8

And to drink ... A golden sweet wine: 2013 Westend Three Bridges Botrytis Semillon ($25).

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