Pear Cake for Breakfast

This is a very dense cake that works well for breakfast or snacking. I have been on a pear kick for the past few weeks and decided to make this again. I found this recipe on line several months ago...have no idea how it got it's name, but we loved it. I took the author's suggestion and added cardamom to the batter. It was fragrant and gave the cake a beautiful flavor. I also made sure that the pears were very ripe. I think apples , tossed with some cinnamon and sugar, would work very well in this cake. So maybe you need an Easter breakfast treat! Serve it warm as an alternative to toast or bagels. It is so good.
The photo and recipe are copied right from the author's site.
New Year’s Pear Cake
Adapted from Home Baking by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

A quick note: In the spirit of “breaking the rules,” feel free to break the ones given here! Throw in some cinnamon or cloves, or even some cardamom, which goes wonderfully with pears. You can also, as Alford and Duguid suggest, substitute apples or plums for the pears, in which case you should toss them with some sugar first. Just make sure the fruit is ripe and flavorful; the dense cake almost seems to be there just to hold the fruit together.

About 1-1.5 lbs pears (enough for 2 cups chopped)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar (plus extra for sprinkling)
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly (plus extra for greasing the pan)
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk (or more “as necessary”)
For glaze:
2 tablespoons flavorful honey, such as wildflower (you can substitute clover)
1 tablespoon hot water

Adjust your oven rack to the lower third of the oven. Place a baking stone or baking sheet on the rack and preheat the oven to 350F.
Brush an 8″x8″ square pan with some melted butter. Line the pan with parchment paper, using a long enough piece so that it comes up and over two of the sides. Butter the paper.
Peel, core and chop the pears into 1/2-inch chunks. Place them in a bowl and set aside (you can squirt with a touch of lemon juice if you want; I didn’t).
Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a medium bowl until well combined. Add the eggs, butter and vanilla and beat until you have a stiff batter (I used an electric mixer for this, which made this easier, but you could do it by hand).
Fold in the pears, then add the milk and mix until the batter is completely moistened. Add more milk, if necessary.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the top with a little sugar, then place in the oven and bake for about 50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and, using the parchment paper, lift the cake onto a rack to cool. Mix the honey with the hot water and brush the top of the cake with the honey glaze. Allow to rest for at least 15 minutes to allow the glaze to set.
Yield: 6-8 servings