Christmas decorations are a pretty big deal in my house. Sure, we have some lights on the outside, but it’s the inside that lights up the holiday season. Trees with stunning ornaments from around the world, some old, some new, a perfect village scene, tons of stuffed animals, and a beautiful decoration made by my late Grandma, among others decorations that fill tables, shelves, and the mantle. I wanted to share some of our decorations with you to put you even more in the holiday spirit than you already hopefully are. I hope you like them.
Our big tree with various ornaments . . . and some presents!
Maybe my favorite tree, it is cream colored with bronze ornaments. Very unique!
This tree holds all the old school movement ornaments that need to be plugged into the strand of lights.
Our newest addition, this tree was added to our collection because it reminds Mom of her childhood. It is really pretty!
I have loved this since I was a child. My late Grandma made it and I love every single thing about it.
Dad’s masterpiece, the Christmas village includes Krispy Kreme, Home Depot, the Palm, Yankee Stadium, and Radio City Music Hall among many others.
I want to live in our little Christmas village!
Gingerbread also screams holiday season to me. I love rich, moist gingerbread cakes, but I had an abundance of pears thanks to an amazing, seriously amazing and totally unexpected gift of Harry and David’s fruit of the month club from our friends Art and Jessica. I know it’s all about giving at Christmas, but getting can be really fun. So after stocking up on tons of pears at the store, I received more in the mail and had to bake something with those Harry and David stunners.
While I will share with you the plain gingerbread recipe I love one day, I gave this Pear Gingerbread Cake from Emeril Lagasse a try and fell in love with it. It is basically a pear upside down cake. You know I don’t much care for upside down cakes, but this was awesome, so I’m thinking I’m just a picky upside down cake girl! The cake is rich and moist with spicy gingerbread flavor. The crystallized ginger occasionally gives a bite of heat. I like it chopped very finely to kind of melt into the cake. I used Steen’s Cane Syrup, which is totally worth seeking out, but plain molasses will do. However, it is the crunchy pecans and soft, gooey caramelized pears on top of the cake that really make this a winner. I am already craving another piece of this amazing cake. It will be an awesome addition to your holiday table.
Pear Gingerbread Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 mins
- Yield: 8 1x
Ingredients
- 1 large or 2 small pears, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
- ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup pecans
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup Steen’s Cane Syrup or Molasses
- ¾ cup boiling water
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 5 tablespoons crystallized ginger, finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Very generously butter an 8 or 9 inch round cake pan, leaving extra butter on the bottom to help the pears cook. Arrange the pears in a pretty pattern in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar and pecans.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla, syrup, and water. Pour flour mixture into sugar mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in crystallized ginger. Pour batter over pears and pecans.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes, rotating halfway through and covering with foil toward the end of the baking process if necessary, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with only a few moist crumbs. Allow cake to cool in pan for about 7 minutes before inverting onto a cake plate. I like the cake best warm, but it may be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days or frozen in quarters wrapped in parchment and foil and placed in a zipper bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for several hours or in a 350 degree F oven wrapped in parchment placed on foil for about 30 minutes.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Emeril Lagasse
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 65 mins
Wow – those are a lot of trees! We have a tiny LED menorah plugged into our computer…haha. I’m terrible about decorating. I barely decorated for my own wedding – for shame, right? Anyway, your cake looks exactly as described; rich, moist, and absolutely lovely!
I also have a tiny Christmas tree plugged into my computer. I saw them at Target and had to have one. I have to admit the vast majority of the credit goes to my dad who spent pretty much his entire Thanksgiving vacation decorating the house. Thanks for the kind words about my cake, Sydney 🙂
Wow! I haven’t seen all you decorations in awhile so I didn’t realize how it’s grown. The all look great! I have the old silver one from when your Mom and I were kids. And the Pear Gingerbread Cake looks delicious.
Thanks, Debbie 🙂 I love that silver tree – the pink ornaments really accent it well. I bet the old one is so cool!
Your Christmas decorations are very impressive. Love the Christmas Village and the silver and pink tree!
Your cake looks delicious and I never would have thought to pair pears and gingerbread (no pun intended) 🙂
Thanks, Christin! That village really is something – the photos don’t do it justice. Pears and gingerbread are an amazing combo. A lot of fruits pair really well with gingerbread. I think apples would work and so would peaches, plums, or blackberries . . . if they were in season.
love your pretty butterfly ornament! And so many wonderful Christmas decorations. gorgeous Laura! This cake reminds me of my apple upside down cake. I should try it with pear next time. and i love the gingerbread version. 🙂
Thanks, Sally! My parents got the butterfly ornament for me last Christmas. I love collecting all things butterfly. Pears are one of my favorite fruits to bake with, and there aren’t many amazing pear recipes out there.
Very good.
Thanks, Dad! Glad you liked it.
Great gingerbread flavor and the pears are wonderful. Rick did a great job on the villages. The silver tree is my favorite but I love all our decorations. So fun to see them everyday.
★★★★★
The decorations are lovely and a pleasure to see everyday. It’s just such a bummer when they have to be put away 🙁
Your house is decorated beautifully! How many trees do you decorate? I love the newest addition to your collection – that silver tree reminds me of my childhood as well. It’s lovely how festive your house looks!
Thank you, Julia! We basically have four trees, plus a little Charlie Brown tree and a metal one that holds all of our crystal ornaments.
Great Christmas Trees! I love all of the holiday pics, totally gets me into the spirit of Christmas! I am especially wanting to try out your recipe, pear-gingerbread combo sounds super good!
Thanks, Natalie 🙂 Our decorations always get me in the holiday spirit. I hope you do try the cake, it is a great holiday treat. Please let me know if you do!
Yum! That cake looks amazing…esepcially the pears on the top. Your house and decorations look beautiful! Have a festive holiday!
Thank you so much! The pears did make a very pretty pattern. I hope you have a great holiday too!
Wow! That’s a lot of trees. They’re all so festive. This cake looks amazing and I love that you topped it with pears. Yum!
Thanks, Jennie! The pears were a great flavor addition. It is fun having all the trees up for awhile.