Pear, Apple, and Amaretti Crumble Cake
The perfect crumble cake! The extremely soft texture of the cake pairs perfectly with the crunchiness of the crumble, as well as the delicious combination of the tangy flavor of the pears/apples with the sweet amaretti.
I assure you that this is absolutely one of the best crumble cakes I’ve ever made (and indeed, it is proudly featured among the recipes on my Blog included in the Special: “My TOP Recipes“).
This soft, delicious, moist, and extremely soft crumble cake is ideal to prepare for a tea, a brunch, or for breakfast or a snack, it’s a cake that in my family disappears in a flash… you’ve been warned!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: International
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients for the Pear, Apple, and Amaretti Crumble Cake
- 1.75 cups Flour (I use Caputo pastry flour)
- 1/2 cup Almond flour
- 1.15 cups Sugar (granulated, or demerara brown sugar)
- 1.33 cups Pears (diced)
- 1 cup Apples (diced)
- 3/4 cup Walnuts (toasted and chopped)
- 3/4 cup Vegetable oil (sunflower or grapeseed or grape seed oil)
- 2 tbsp Amaretto (liqueur)
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 2 Egg yolks
- 2 Egg whites
- 1 Egg (whole, about 46 g)
- 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
- tsp Ground cloves (optional, I didn't add them)
- 1/2 tsp Fine salt
- 1 Lemon zest (grated)
- as needed Pistachio crumbs (for decoration, optional)
- as needed Amaretti (whole for decoration, optional)
- 1/4 cup Butter (creamed (very soft))
- 1/3 cup Powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup Flour (I use Caputo classic, for all purposes)
- 3/4 cup Walnuts (or hazelnuts, toasted and chopped)
- 1/4 cup Amaretti (NOT soft, crushed)
- 1/2 tsp Fine salt
- 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
Tools for the Pear, Apple, and Amaretti Crumble Cake
- Food Scale
- Bowls of various sizes
- Mixer electric Philips with 450W power
- Food Processor chopper and electric vegetable slicer (Kenwood Multi pro go)
- Plumcake Mold
Preparation of the Pear, Apple, and Amaretti Crumble Cake
Preheat the oven to 302°F.
Container I: pour into a bowl: the diced apple and pear, grated lemon peel, chopped walnuts, and finally the amaretto liqueur.
Mix well and set the bowl aside, so that the flavors blend.
Container II: pour the dry ingredients: 1.75 cups of flour, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1/2 cup of almond flour, ground cloves (I didn’t add them), and mix well with a hand whisk.
Container III: mix 3/4 cup of neutral oil and 1.15 cups of sugar, then add the salt, one whole egg and the two yolks, vanilla extract (set aside the two egg whites, to be whipped later).
Container IV: Beat the two egg whites to stiff peaks at a moderate speed (this gives them more stability) until they are whipped but soft, making it easier to add them to the cake batter without deflating them.
Pour the dry ingredients from Container II into Container III with the eggs, in three additions, mixing well, then also add the fruit mixture from Container I and finally, gently fold in the whipped egg whites.
Pour the batter into a 10×4 inch loaf tin, buttered and floured (if in a hurry, you can also just line it with wet and squeezed parchment paper) and add the crumble prepared on top.
To achieve the classic line in the center of the crumble cake, butter a knife and pass it vertically in the center of the batter (trick).
Be careful not to fill the mold to the brim because it will rise during baking.
Bake the crumble cake in a preheated oven at 320°F for about an hour (depending on your oven).
Once out of the oven, I decorated the cake with pistachio crumbs and whole amaretti (optional).
Let the cake cool and serve, accompanied by tea or coffee.
Notes and Tips
The batter of this Pear, Apple, and Amaretti Crumble Cake is perfect and the fruit cubes blend well together and do NOT sink to the bottom.
This crumb cake tastes even better the next day because the flavors meld better (so you can easily prepare it in advance).
The recipe for this wonderful crumble cake is from the greatYotam Ottolenghi (from the Cookbook), a guarantee! Both in terms of the goodness of the recipes and the meticulous and precise explanation of doses and procedure: with his recipes, it’s practically impossible to go wrong!
Shopping Tips!!!
To weigh the ingredients, I use this handy Digital Kitchen Scale, with a large removable bowl, tare function, and built-in timer.
I quickly prepared this cake with the convenient Philips electric mixer with 5 speeds (+ turbo) and 450 w of power,
