Frankenpear Cake & a Winter Storm Warning

Early this morning, we learned via the internet that there is a winter storm warning that includes our area (and lots of area around us); we should expect high winds and possibly 2 - 4 inches of snow between tomorrow morning (Monday) and Tuesday evening.  Yes, this is being generated by the mega storm forecasters are predicting hurricane Sandy will become when it collides with two other winter storms...I've heard it called Frankenstorm...I have to say, though I do hope no harm comes to anyone who have or will experience this storm, I am looking forward to the possibility of having our first snow storm of the year!  LET IT SNOW!

Read on to hear about this Pear Cake I made today (aka Frankenpear Cake), I do believe you will be glad you did...a cake that is made like a bread...moist with a bit of a crunchy crust, sweet and oooh those pears are good in there!

But let's talk about what happened today before we get to that...once we learned about the winter storm warning, we went to the garden and covered everything with straw; we are confident the turnips, rutabaga and beets will come through, as we understand they are winter hardy...we covered the beans, peppers, collard and mustard greens (we are a little worried about these but they are too young to harvest).  We harvested our sweet potatoes (they look funny, but they look good!), a rutabaga and turnip (they were getting pretty big) and 5 lone string beans (these things keep growing and growing...I ate them raw for lunch, still so delicious, crunchy and sweet!).

Mountain Man harvested his radishes, which were smaller and much spicier than he anticipated!

It's been rainy day, a little windy and cool with a few remnants of fall speckled about.  I saw this particularly nice view as I walked around the porch...the bright leaves contrasting the stark rain covered branches caught my eye...I though you might like it too!

Then Johny went to the store to pick up a few supplies, being that we might not be able to get out for a few days (the combination of rain, ice and snow make going down the mountain impossible).

And I decided to bake a cake!  I got this recipe from our Dogwood Crafters cook book (we were able to taste it at the Dillsboro Color Fest a few weeks ago, delicious and I intend to have the same result!). 


Oh, this reminds me, remember how I keep having trouble burning things in my oven?  Or not having my baked goods bake properly?  Well, I finally broke down and bought an oven thermometer, you know, taking a fact based approach to figuring out what the heck is going on.  And lo and behold, the oven temp runs a whole 75 degrees hotter than the oven knob setting indicates!  Can you imagine that?  My baking troubles probably have nothing to do with altitude and everything to do with oven attitude...LOL...sometimes I make myself laugh!  So I have resolved my oven temp issues by using the internal temp gauge.  How about them apples!!!

Back to...
Frankenpear Cake

These are the necessary ingredients (see above for the list)...

I followed the recipe exactly as directed.  I loved the color of the egg mixed with sugar...gorgeous yellow!

The dough is very thick but it loosens up when you add the cut pears and pecans.  I do suggest you be sure your pears are ripe and somewhat soft, which ensures both juiciness and sweetness.

The cake is perfectly delicious.  If the power goes out during Frankenstorm, and I have absolutely no way to prepare any food (not going to happen, we are well prepared and can cook on the wood burning stove), we will not go hungry! Frankenpear Cake to the rescue!

Stay safe tonight and the next few days!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise