Pear Date Skillet Cake
This Pear and Date Skillet Cake is healthy, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and dairy-free! Served with a drizzle of homemade date syrup, each mouthful is a truly decadent experience!
This Pear Date Skillet Cake is absolutely delicious. It is the perfect ending to a dinner or lunch. It pairs well with a glass of wine or a cup of coffee or tea.
And today, you get the recipe for this cake along with the recipe for pear butter and date syrup.
This skillet cake, along with its accompaniments, is so easy to make, all you need is one blender, one skillet, a spatula, an oven, and the ingredients listed below.
What are the ingredients needed to make these recipes?
The ingredient breakdown is as follows:
PEAR & DATE SKILLET CAKE
- Pear butter
- Eggs
- Dates
- Coconut oil
- Buckwheat flour
- Baking powder
- Pear
- Salt
DATE SYRUP
- Dates
- Water
PEAR BUTTER
- Pears (by the way, find out all about pears here)
- Water
- Cinnamon
- Cardamom
- Cloves
- Nutmeg
- Ginger powder
If you had asked me to eat a refined sugar-free cake three months ago, I would have chuckled and said: “…not unless you won the lottery and are planning on sharing your winnings with me!”
But, life has a way of delivering it’s lessons to me that often ends up with me eating my words.
I gave up refined sugar completely as part of a two-month sugar cleanse. During the second month of this ordeal, I re-introduced fruits and dried fruits to my taste-buds again.
It was in this phase that I rediscovered my love of dates (we are talking about that wrinkly date fruit) and raisins and homemade apple and pear butters.
I am not sure if it was my deprived taste-buds, but a little homemade apple or pear butter or date paste or date syrup went a long way in adding a tantalizingly sweet flavor to my baked goods – like this Pear and Date Skillet Cake!
When I first tasted a spoonful of this Skillet Cake, I must admit that I forgot that it was refined sugar free. But, I chalked it up to my deprived taste-buds – until, my daughter and mom and sister and friends gave this the thumbs up – with one of them eating 3 slices of this cake even though they kept saying they didn’t like pears!
I am a big believer in that all things happen for the best – in time.
That job lost, that mandatory sugar-fast, that lying date (not the fruit), that rainy day, they just help things seem clearer.
Sometimes, they even help you find a new found love for what you had right there in front of you.
Dates and pears have been two of my favorite fruits, but somehow, with the flavors of fall, I overlooked how incredible they were together.
So, I decided to unite them with my taste-buds again – in this easy cake!
All you need is one blender, one skillet, a spatula and an oven.
I used gluten free, nutrient dense, buckwheat flour along with a spiced homemade pear butter I had on hand, some eggs, coconut oil and some dates.
I threw all my ingredients into my blender – scraped them out with a spatula into the skillet and voila – this delicious skillet cake emerged from the oven!
Ingredients
PEAR & DATE SKILLET CAKE
- ¼ cup homemade pear butter
- 3 eggs
- 8 dates soaked in warm water for 30 minutes
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted
- ½ cup buckwheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 pear sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
DATE SYRUP
- 2 cups dates
- 1 cup water
PEAR BUTTER
- 6 pears
- ½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ginger powder
Instructions
PEAR AND DATE SKILLET CAKE
- Preheat oven to 350
- Place ALL the ingredients (pear butter, eggs, dates, coconut oil, buckwheat flour, baking powder, and salt) into a blender, and pulse till well incorporated and dates are broken down
- Pour/scrape into a skillet
- Place pear slices on top and bake for 30 minutes
DATE SYRUP
- Simmer dates in water for 30 minutes, then mash up the dates and using a cheesecloth, strain the dates from the liquid, reserve the liquid, store in an airtight container in the fridge, and use as needed.
PEAR BUTTER
- Place all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over a low flame for 25-30 minutes. Puree and use as needed in baking and topping yogurt, etc.
This looks so good and healthy that I can even enjoy them as the breakfast!
This skillet cake looks delicious! I love the combination of pears and dates!!
What a fantastic looking skillet cake, Shashi. You always come up with the most creative, delicious and healthy dessert ideas. I bet pear and date go so well together. This would make a great brunch. 🙂
O the skillet!!! Love seeing its magic power in action!
I always get so jealous when you post about Sprouts! If only we still lived in Atlanta… But let’s talk cake. This cake sounds amazing, and I’m a huge fan of the buckwheat flour you used in there. I bet that adds a fun twist of flavor! I just recently baked something with dates, and I was pleased with the result. I just need to remember to use them more often. I’m thinking a slice of this cake just screams for a scoop of good vanilla bean ice cream on top. Let it get slightly melty and all…and then dig in! Oh yeah!! Hope you have a great Wednesday, Shashi!
Looks wonderful! Cooking with apples gets a bit tired, I love this idea!
Doing a sugar cleanse is so important for your health. I do this often as well and I feel so much better. I can’t wait to try this delicious skillet pear and date cake, perfect for a morning cuppa or a healthy snack during the day. Sharing of course!
This looks so comforting and delicious! I love that you added dates, they’re my favorite way to add sweetness!
What beautiful shots and fall recipe. Getting the cast iron skillet out now!
Wow, such a neat recipe! Tons of flavor in this. Love dates. And pears. And cake. 🙂 Thanks!
Yay for dates saving the dessert day! This cake is gorgeous, Shashi! Love those pear slices and that you used the dates for sweetness instead of sugar! Now I can eat at least 5 slices of this baby and not feel so guilty! Plus anything made in a skillet just makes me swoon – gotta love the taste and convenience! Cheers, my dear! <3
I always have trouble with cakes – never thought to bake it in a skillet! This looks delicious, and I LOVE pear this time of year!
This cake is SO pretty – I love the pears you have on top! I am a huge fan of pears and dates … it’s like you made this just for me 🙂
Interesting idea, and I like you used buckwheat flour, Shashi! This one is quite underestimated, unfortunately. What can I say? Be strong and don’t give up. And remember: you cannot consume refind sugars. But you can always bake a cake or two and send it to me:)
This is a gorgeous skillet cake! Would love a slice right now!
I must try making the pear butter.
Oh, I LOVE date butter. I have two packs of opened dates that I haven’t even touched in goodness knows how long, but now I’m totally craving them! And this cake–talk about a great way to reintroduce those sugars!!
I am all about skillet cakes and this is definitely no exception! I need to get some dates! (That pear butter sounds amazing. <3 )
After seeing how much sugar went into a cake I made today and being a bit disgusted with myself, this is looking very attractive, Shashi!
The pears (and pear butter!) look wonderful!
P.S. Love your new blog lay-out!
Love this – so healthy and tasty