Pear Cake with Crumb Topping

Ingredients

• 625 g spelt flour type 1050
• 1 cube fresh yeast
• 200 g raw cane sugar
• 200 ml lukewarm milk (3.5% fat)
• 4 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 pinch salt
• 200 g softened butter
• 2 kg pears
• 500 g Low-fat quark
• 2 tbsp spelt semolina
• 75 g ground almonds
• 0.5 tsp vanilla powder
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar made from raw cane sugar

Instructions

1. 1.

   Sift 500 g flour into a large bowl, create a well in the center. Dissolve yeast with 1 tsp sugar and milk, pour into the well, dust edges with a little flour, cover and let the pre‑starter rise for about 10 minutes.

2. 2.

   Add 65 g sugar, 1 egg, yolk, salt, and 70 g butter to the pre‑starter. Mix with dough hooks of a hand mixer until smooth. Cover with a damp cloth and let proof at room temperature for about 1 hour.

3. 3.

   Meanwhile peel, quarter, core, and slice pears into thin wedges. Whisk quark with remaining eggs, semolina, and 50 g sugar until smooth.

4. 4.

   For the crumb topping mix remaining butter, flour, almonds, vanilla powder, and remaining sugar in a bowl. Work dough between fingers to form crumbs. Cover and chill in refrigerator.

5. 5.

   Knead yeast dough again, roll out evenly to sheet size. Line baking tray with parchment paper, place dough on it, let rise for 10 minutes.

6. 6.

   Spread quark mixture over the base. Arrange pear wedges on top, then sprinkle crumb topping. Bake preheated oven at 200 °C (180 °C fan; gas: level 3) for 45–55 minutes. Remove cake and dust with powdered sugar before serving.