Ma Niche : rum & raisin

Last night while hopping around the blogs, I landed on Bake for Happy Kids. In the sidebar I spotted that today was the in "Bake Along" they were baking Fruit Buckle. I was a little curious about what buckles were, so i googled and decided to bake along with them... and today i baked a Rum and Raisin Pear Buckle....

well, Rum & Raisin is my latest craze. I had planned a rum & raisin ice-cream today. since the ice-cream plan had to be delayed, i sneaked in some of that combination in the buckle. it worked really well. I used Angostura Trinida & Tobago Caribbean rum (aged 7 years) in the recipe. but i guess any dark rum will work. the pears poached in rum taste great by itself. in case you haven't tried the combination you should cook up some right away. you'll thank me for the recommendation !

In case fruit buckles are new to you too... here is what they are. They are a type of cake in which fruits are added to the batter and are topped with a struesel. now why are they called buckles ? well because, as the cake bakes, it tends to "buckle" around the fruits. i also gathered that originally blueberries were the star-fruits used to bake buckles... but as it turned out, rum-poached pears also taste wonderful nestled in the cake !

Rum and Raisin Pear Buckle
ingredients for the fruit 1 1/2 green D'Anjou Pears, sliced lengthwise 1 tbsp unsalted butter 2 tbsps sugar 4 tbsps rum 2-3 tbsps water zest of 1/2 lemon pinch of salt 3 tbsps golden raisins for the streusel 3 tbsp all-purpose flour 2 tbsp oats 2 tbsp brown sugar (plus more if you like) 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder 1/8 tsp nutmeg powder for the cake batter 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 2/3 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 3 1/2 oz evaporated milk 1/4 cup fat-free sour cream 1/3 cup sugar - what i did treating the fruit first i melted the butter in a saucepan, stirred in the sugar and added the pears. immediately afterwards i added the remaining ingredients to the saucepan and let the sliced pears poach in the liquid for 5 minutes. then switching off the heat i left the raisins in the liquid until they had plumped up a bit, about 30-45 minutes. for the struesel, i simply hand-mixed all the ingredients together and kept it aside. for the cake first i preheated the oven to 375 degrees F, lined a 6 inch springfoam pan with a parchment paper, then sifted the flour, salt and baking soda together and set it aside. next using the hand mixer i whipped the sugar with the butter until the mixture looked creamy. then added the evaporated milk and sour cream to the butter-sugar mixture and whisked till the mixture was well-combined. i then stirred the sifted flour-mixture to the butter mixture with a light hand until the flour got incorporated into the batter. then adding the soaked raisins in the batter, i poured it into the prepared springform pan, arranged the rum-poached pears on top of the batter in a circular pattern, spread the struesel on top of the pear and transferred the pan into the preheated oven and baked for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer inserted came out clean. - references Pear-Blackberry Buckle from Diana's Recipe Book Nectarine Brown Butter Buckle from Smitten Kitchen Poached Rum and Raisin Pears from Epicurious

Rum and Raisin Pear Buckle

ingredients

for the fruit

1 1/2 green D'Anjou Pears, sliced lengthwise
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsps sugar
4 tbsps rum
2-3 tbsps water
zest of 1/2 lemon
pinch of salt
3 tbsps golden raisins

for the streusel

3 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp oats
2 tbsp brown sugar (plus more if you like)
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/8 tsp nutmeg powder

for the cake batter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 oz evaporated milk
1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
1/3 cup sugar

what i did

treating the fruit

first i melted the butter in a saucepan, stirred in the sugar and added the pears.
immediately afterwards i added the remaining ingredients to the saucepan and let the sliced pears poach in the liquid for 5 minutes.
then switching off the heat i left the raisins in the liquid until they had plumped up a bit, about 30-45 minutes.

for the struesel, i simply hand-mixed all the ingredients together and kept it aside.
for the cake

first i preheated the oven to 375 degrees F, lined a 6 inch springfoam pan with a parchment paper, then sifted the flour, salt and baking soda together and set it aside.
next using the hand mixer i whipped the sugar with the butter until the mixture looked creamy. then added the evaporated milk and sour cream to the butter-sugar mixture and whisked till the mixture was well-combined.
i then stirred the sifted flour-mixture to the butter mixture with a light hand until the flour got incorporated into the batter.
then adding the soaked raisins in the batter, i poured it into the prepared springform pan, arranged the rum-poached pears on top of the batter in a circular pattern, spread the struesel on top of the pear and transferred the pan into the preheated oven and baked for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer inserted came out clean.

references

Pear-Blackberry Buckle from Diana's Recipe Book
Nectarine Brown Butter Buckle from Smitten Kitchen
Poached Rum and Raisin Pears from Epicurious

all that said, I have a few concerns about the buckle. i think in trying to make the recipe eggless I might have overdone the oil in the cake. it oozed oil after being taken out off the oven. keeping that in mind, i think, replacing the sour cream with Greek yogurt might be a good idea. also the crumb could use a little less butter, perhaps two tablespoons instead of three...

so much for today. Baking this along with Joe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, and Lena of Frozen wings, the three three baker-teers behind Bake Along....