Pear & vanilla cake with pine nuts and blue cheese

This recipe provides you a charming composition of pears, vanilla, pine nuts and blue cheese. 

You better taste it!

The calculation is for a 16-17 cm (6.3 to 6.7 inch) mold.

For the sponge biscuit:

• 4 eggs | 1.00 items
• 132 g sugar | 4.65 oz
• 132 g flour | 4.65 oz
• 1 tsp baking powder | 1.00 tsp
• vanilla (optional) | 0.00 to taste
• 40 g butter | 1.40 oz

For the filling:

• 1 large firm pear (or 2 small ones) | 1.00 item
• 2 tbsp sugar | 2.00 tbsp
• 100 g water | 3.55 oz
• 1/2 vanilla stick | 1.00 item
• 50 g pine nuts | 1.75 oz

For the custard:

• 200 g cream (with at least 33% fat content) | 7.05 oz
• 150 g cream cheese | 5.30 oz
• 200 gram cottage cheese (with high fat content) | 7.05 oz
• 80 g powdered sugar | 2.80 oz
• 60 g blue cheese | 2.10 oz

For the finishing crème (optional):

• 65 g butter | 2.30 oz
• 200 g cream cheese | 7.05 oz
• 50 g powdered sugar | 1.75 oz

Whisk the egg whites with one half of the sugar into a strong meringue.

Whip the egg yolks with the remaining sugar into a light fluffy mass (until the sugar dissolves), and add the whipped egg whites in three passes, alternately with the flour mixed with the baking powder.

Finally, pour in the melted butter at the room temperature. Stir gently, trying to maintain the airy texture of the dough.

Bake the sponge biscuit at 180C (356F) until dry skewer. Cool the finished biscuit, and wrap it in foil; place the sponge biscuit in the fridge for at least 5 hours.

Peel the pear, and cut it into small cubes; add the water, the sugar and vanilla seeds with a stick.

Boil the pears for a few minutes in this syrup until soft (the pieces should remain intact).

Let the pears steep in the syrup for a couple of hours.

Dissolve the cheese in 50 g (1.75 oz) of hot cream, and cool it well.

Rub the cottage cheese through a sieve, add the rest of the products on the list; whip the mass well into a fluffy non-liquid crème.

All the ingredients must be cold.

You better assemble the cake in a detachable ring mold, covered with the acetate film from the inside.

Cut the biscuit into three cake layers.

Place the bottom cake layer, and make the custard borders around the perimeter; place half of the pear filling in the center (don’t forget to remove the vanilla stick), trying to pour the cake layer with the pear syrup instead of soaking.

Sprinkle the pears with half of the nuts, and cover them with half of the custard.

Place the second cake, and repeat the all the steps once again.

Top the cake with the third cake; it must be soaked (if there is no more pear syrup left, then cook the regular one: sugar with water 1: 2).

Cool the cake for 5 to 8 hours.

If you don’t want to bother about the finishing crème, then coat the cake with the crème from the filling, (just add a little less cream in it).

Whisk the butter at room temperature with the powdered sugar into a fluffy light mass.

Add the chilled cheese in several passes, without stopping whipping; don’t whip for too long, as you just need to stir the mass.

Spread the resulting crème over the sides and the top of the cake.

Bon Appetit!