Rum Pear/Hazelnut Cake

Having never been much of a baker or a dessert person, I didn't have a spring-form cake pan... just this larger pan, so I have been making the cake at 1.5 times bigger.  I now own a spring-form pan, inspired by this cake and wanting to explore others, but David requested that I continue to make this bigger, rectangular version, because there is more in the end.

P.S. I just gave up on trying to create any design on the surface because the cake just seems to rise over it anyway.

David and I have a new snacking addiction... I mean, snack sensation we like to have available to us in the fridge.  It's Rum Pear Cake, which is the altered version of the Rum Apple Cake I made a couple of weeks ago.  After several passes at making the cake, we have hit the ideal combination.  It's truly delicious, gluten-free, wheat-free and totally satisfying.

I follow the recipe as was posted HERE, but make the following substitutions:

- Hazelnuts instead of almonds
- Anjou pears instead of apples
- I double the amount of rum (we use Mount Gay Rum - Eclipse, which is a darker rum)
- I use muscavado sugar, which is listed in the recipe as an option.  I don't use the full amount, just a little bit less, because we prefer it less sweet

I found that our superpower blender does an excellent job grinding the hazelnuts.  I put the blender on "Snow" setting, works like a charm.  No need to get a spice/coffee grinder.

David LOVES this cake (I do, too), and it is quickly beginning to beat out the chocolate flour-less cake as the home-made dessert choice.  It's easy, lovely, and has gorgeous, almost pudding-like texture because of the rum.  We highly recommend this recipe.