• Prepare Cakes and put in the oven first. While cakes are baking poach your pears. Once cakes are out of the oven and cooling, make your Maple Cream Sauce!

Cardamom Cakes

• Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃) Prepare three 4-inch cake pans with baking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.
• In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave and let it cool to room temperature. Once cool, stir in the milk and set aside.
  75 grams unsalted butter, 70 grams whole milk
• In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Set aside.
  2 teaspoons baking powder, 170 grams all purpose flour , 1 teaspoon ground cardamom , ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt, 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• Place eggs and sugar in the bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment or a large bowl with handheld mixer. On medium high speed, beat the eggs with the sugar until the mixture is thick and frothy. About 3-4 minutes.
  100 grams eggs, 220 grams dark brown sugar
• Pour the frothy egg and sugar mixture into the flour mixture. Stir together until combined and no flour streaks remain.
• Add the milk and butter mixture. Hand whisk together to form a smooth cake batter.
• Divide the batter amongst the three cake pans. Then, place the cake pans on a rimmed baking pan.
• Set the pan on the middle oven rack and bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
• Remove pan from the oven and transfer the individual cake pans onto a wire rack to cool for 10-15 minutes.
• Invert the pans to remove the cakes and transfer them to serving dishes.

Wine Poached Pears

• Peel the pears leaving the stems intact.
  3 Bosch pears
• Pour the water, wine, and sugar into a medium sized deep dish pot.
  250 grams water, 750 grams dry white wine, 200 grams granulated sugar
• Bring to a simmer on medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
• Reduce to a soft simmer and gently place the cinnamon sticks and pears into the liquid. Let the pears bathe in the liquid for 35-40 minutes until tender but not mushy.
  3 cinnamon sticks
• Gently remove pears from the pot with a slotted spoon and set them on a paper towel lined plate, stem up to absorb any extra runoff liquid.

Maple Cream Sauce

• Place cream cheese, vanilla, and maple syrup into the bowl of stand mixer with whisk attachment or medium sized bowl with handheld mixer. Beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
  226 grams full fat cream cheese, 63 grams maple syrup, 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
• Mix in half the powdered sugar at a time to form a thick frosting like texture.
  120 grams powdered sugar
• Pour in the milk, and mix again on medium-low speed to create a creamy purable sauce.
  60 grams whole milk
• More milk will create a thinner cream. I use just enough milk to make it pourable, but not a thin liquid. For a thicker sauce, mix in another 1/4 cup of powdered sugar.

Assemble Pear Cake

• Take a 1.5-inch biscuit cutter or cookie cutter to remove a 1/4 -1/2 deep circle from the top center of each cake. I press just enough to cut the shape of the circle and then remove gently with a spoon. Take out just enough cake for your pear to rest comfortably on top.
• Place each cake with center hole on a serving plate. Gently set a poached pear onto the center hole of each cake.
• Pour the maple cream sauce over the pear and sprinkle with cinnamon and/or nutmeg.
  pinch cinnamon and nutmeg