Pear & Frangipan Torte

Before putting the pears in this torte, I poach them in a sugar syrup (equal parts sugar and water) with the juice of a lemon, the pared rind of the lemon and a cinnamon stick. Pears are so often either too under ripe to eat as a fruit or at the stage where eating them is going to involve a great deal of mopping up, delicious but messy. This recipe uses firm pears and poaching them for 15 minutes renders them perfectly tender. The Frangipan forms the base and the topping. A sprinkle of flaked almonds on the top completes the dish.

For this recipe you will need:
3 or 4 firm pears
180g of soft unsalted butter
180g of caster sugar
100g of self raising flour
150g of ground almonds
3 eggs
1 tablespoon of Amaretto Di Saronno (almond liqueur)
50g of flaked almods to sprinkle on top

Begin by peeling, halving, coring and poaching the pears for 15 minutes in a sugar syrup made of 300ml of water and 300g of sugar, the juice and the rind of a lemon,  and a stick of cinnamon. Drain the pears and save the syrup in a jar, it will keep in the fridge for a week or two and works perfectly for poaching more pears.

make the frangipan by creaming together the sugar and butter, beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the ground almonds and almond liqueur. Finally fold in the flour.

Place half the frangipan in a 25 centimeter flan tin that has been greased and dusted with flour. Spread the mixture out then place the pears on top. I slice the pears up which makes it easier to fit them in and fill gaps. Spread the remaining half of the frangipan mixture on top of the pears and finally sprinkle on the flaked almonds and place in a moderate oven 180C for 45 to 50 minutes until golden brown, see notes. Cool in the tin for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Notes,
A soggy bottom is always a thing best avoided and this recipe does tend to end up with a base that is last to show signs of being fully cooked. I find the best thing to do is to place the flan tin on a tray or pizza stone that has already been heated up in the oven
This dish works well with other fruit, the only thing you have to be aware of is how wet the fruit will be when cooked, if the fruit is too wet, it is likely to make the finished torte a bit sodden. Choose fruit such as apricots rather than peaches, figs rather plums.