Weekend foodie: Guilt-free apple, pear and cinnamon tea cake

Here’s a variation on my guilt-free banana loaf, this time with apple puree, cinnamon and topped with slices of ripe pears.  As with the banana loaf, there’s no sugar or butter and I use spelt flour as an easily digestible alternative to the ubiquitous wheat flour. You could also make this completely pear-themed by substituting the apple puree with pear puree, or add some texture with chopped up walnuts.

Ingredients:

1 x 360ml jar of apple puree

75ml olive oil

¾ cup agave nectar

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups spelt flour

2 very ripe pears, peeled, quartered and cored (if your pears are very hard, poach the quarters in a little water for a few minutes first, until soft but not falling apart)

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F (or if your oven is fan forced160C/325F) and grease a round cake tin

2. Mix the apple puree, olive oil, agave nectar, egg and vanilla extract in a big mixing bowl.

3. Add the baking powder and mix in the flour last.

4. Pour into the prepared cake tin and arrange the pears on the top.

5. Bake in the oven for around 50 minutes until golden on top and a knife comes out clean.
6. Serve however you fancy - I paired it with a spoonful of yoghurt and some red grapes.