autumn omen

There is no one in the world as devoted to sweets as my mom. She inhales vanilla ice cream and gulps down peanut-butter chocolate chip cookies (a future post, if you’re lucky), yet somehow retains her slim little French figure. So unfair.

But she has perfected the simplest recipe for the most luscious, spice-replete cake you can imagine. For we autumn aficionados (that’s basically all Texans, since late September is our first taste of relief from the blistering summer), it is the perfect prequel to whet our appetites for all things fall. *And just WAIT for the warm, thick, sumptuous dishes I’ll be fixing in the coming months!

This cake is most mouth-watering when packed with very ripe, fresh pears, and even better when those pears were picked up in the horse pasture of your parents’ ranch-estate in Noonday. They’re ugly little buggers when harvested, lumpy in shape and freckled with black pinpoints, but a quick peel unveils the sweet, pearly flesh beneath. And that flesh is just waiting to dive into a Bundt pan. Trust me.

Pear Cake

4 very ripe pears
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon nutmeg (feel free to add more!)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (feel free to add more!)
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl by hand, adding one at a time and stirring thoroughly after each addition. Lightly spray a Bundt pan and pour batter in. Bake for 1 hour and 10-15 minutes in a 300-degree oven.