Easy Autumn Afternoon Pear and Walnut Loaf

Pears. The underrated British fruit of the season. This is a nice quick loaf cake I dreamt up one autumn Sunday afternoon. There’s no faffing around with icing here and the sugar content is relatively low compared to many other sweet treats. Although the optional sugar sprinkled on top before baking is a lovely touch as it forms a crunchy crust.

Pear and walnut loaf

Ingredients;

200 g self-raising flour
100 g sunflower spread
100 g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 pears, peeled and chopped up small
60 g walnut halves, broken up

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Method;

Step 1. Cream the sunflower spread and sugar with an electric hand whisk.

Step 2. Add the flour and eggs and mix again.

Step 3. Break the walnut halves into the mixture, reserving as many as you would like for decoration.

Step 4. Chop up the pear into small cubes. Toss the cubes in a little extra flour. (This is a tip courtesy of Mary Berry, to stop fruit sinking in a cake). Then gently stir the pear into the cake mixture.

Step 5. Transfer to the loaf tin and sprinkle a small amount of caster sugar over the top. Bake in a preheated oven on Gas Mark 5 for about 50 minutes.

Pear and walnut loaf