Walnut Pear Sour Cream Cake

Prep: 30 mins
Bake: 55 mins
Serves 12

1 cup broken walnuts
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 medium pears, peeled, cored and sliced (about 2 cups)
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (+ 2 tbsp if you're using Dutch flour)
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 8-oz. carton sour cream
1/2 cup broken walnuts (optional)

Note: for extra "wow" add whipped cream, edible fowers, fresh fig and fresh bay leaves to each serving.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9-inch springform pan or 9x9x2-inch baking pan.

Combine the 1 cup nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon. For topping, cut the 1/4 cup butter into 1/3 cup flour to make coarse crumbs. Stir in 3/4 cup of the nut mixture. Set nut mixture and topping aside.

Toss pears with lemon juice; set aside. In a medium bowl combine the 1 3/4 cups flour, baking powder, soda, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl beat 1/2 cup butter with electric mixer 30 seconds. Beat in granulated sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add flour mixture and sour cream alternately to batter. Beat on low speed after each addition until combined.

Spread 2/3 batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with reserved nut mixture. layer pears over top. Gently spread remaining batter of pears. Sprinke with reserved topping. Bake 10 minutes. for a chunky top, sprinkle with 1/2 cup more nuts. Bake 45 to 50 minutes more or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes. Remove side of springform pan. Cool at least 1 hour. Serve warm with whipped cream, if desired.

History: With these ingredients, Stephanie Hurt of Greencastle, Indiana, baked a cake for her town's 1999 Heritage Fair Baker's Challenge and garnered first place in the cake division. "Pearfect" for breakfast, coffee break, or dessert, it will bring praises galore from your own tough judges. This cake is one of over 50 recipes that appear in the premier issue of the new Better Homes and Gardens Hometown Cooking magazine. Every issue will showcase the best-of-the-best recipes from hometown cookbooks across America, along with the delightful people who share the recipes.