Pear & Walnut Cake

The Steps

1. Heat oven 350 degrees F. Lightly cover a round 8 inch cake pan with bake spray and dust with flour, then line the bottom of the pan with parchment.
2. Place flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and ground ginger in a bowl and whisk until well combined.
3. Place eggs and sugar in a food processor and pulse until well blended and mixture is pale and fluffy. Add in buttermilk and olive oil, and again, pulse until well blended and batter is thick. (Note: The wet ingredients can also be mixed in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment). Fold in dry ingredients into wet mixture and pour batter into cake pan. Place halved pears into cake.
4. Bake for 90 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean when inserted into center of cake.. Start check for doneness around 70 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cook for five minutes before removing cake from pan. ***Optional: Garnish with raspberries and dust with confectioner sugar.Notes:
   No need to poach or peel the pear if you make sure to use ripe pears (they should be yellow not green and slightly bruised is fine). You can use canola oil instead of olive oil, but I prefer the slight grassy taste the olive oil imparts.