Pear & Walnut Loaf

Ingredients

• 150g unsalted butter, softened, plus a little for the tin
• 125g cane sugar
• 3 medium eggs, at room temperature
• 200g plain white flour
• 2 level tsp baking powder
• 2 ripe pears, peeled, cored and diced into 1cm pieces (200g prepared weight)
• 75g walnuts, roughly chopped, plus 15g for the top
• 2 tbsp maple agave syrup, for glazing

Method

1. Prepare the tinHeat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / gas 4. Grease the loaf tin and line the base and long sides with baking parchment, leaving enough overhang to lift the loaf out. Dice the pears and chop the walnuts.
2. Cream the butter and sugarBeat the softened butter and sugar for 3–4 minutes until lighter and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. If the mixture begins to curdle, add a spoonful of the measured flour with the next egg.
3. Fold in the fruit and nutsMix the remaining flour with the baking powder, then fold it into the butter mixture just until no dry flour remains. Fold in the diced pears and 75g chopped walnuts. Scrape the thick batter into the tin, level the top and scatter over the remaining 15g walnuts.
4. Bake until cooked throughBake on the middle shelf for 55–65 minutes. Start checking at 55 minutes: a skewer inserted into the centre should come out without wet cake batter, though a little moisture from the pear is fine. If the top browns before the middle is cooked, cover loosely with foil and continue baking, checking every 5 minutes.
5. Glaze and coolBrush the warm top with the maple agave syrup. Leave in the tin for 20 minutes, then lift onto a wire rack. Let it cool before slicing so the crumb has time to settle.

A few useful changes

Use the same prepared weight of diced eating apple if that’s what you have. For a less sweet finish, leave off the syrup glaze. Very juicy pears can make the loaf heavy, so pat the diced fruit dry and keep to the 200g prepared weight.

Keep a few slices

Once completely cool, keep covered in the fridge and eat within three days. Bring slices to room temperature before serving. For longer storage, freeze individual slices with parchment between them for up to two months and defrost as needed.