This moist, rich Sour Cream Pear Bread is the perfect autumn treat. With chunks of pears and the warm spices of cinnamon and ginger, it’s totally irresistible!
Sour Cream Pear Bread
I have eaten scrumptious pear coffee cakes, but never a pear quick bread. I was bound and determined to create a moist and flavorful loaf, and, indeed, I did. This Sour Cream Pear Bread is full of small pear chunks plus a hint of spice from cinnamon and ginger. The addition of sour cream made for a rich batter, which in turn, baked up to a perfect loaf.
Pear Season Arrives!
My home base taste testers had no interest in even a nibble of this bread, so I turned to my girlfriends who always love sampling my experiments. The loaf was whittled down to next to nothing after the initial tasting and the packaging up of slices to be taken home. We all agreed that the pear taste was quite subtle, and there was even the declaration of “this is so much better than banana bread.” One astute friend noticed the sweet, crispy crust which was created by dusting the greased loaf pan with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar before adding the batter. And incorporating both ground cinnamon and ginger helped to boost the flavor of what could have been a bland loaf. With pear season arriving, make sure to grab a couple extra and bake up some sour cream pear bread for your friends and family. I really loved this!
Sour Cream Pear Bread
A delectable fall loaf featuring chopped pears; rich and moist from the addition of sour cream
Ingredients
- Butter, for greasing the pan
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar
- 1-3/4 cups cake flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons butter,
- softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1-1/2 medium pears, peeled, cored and finely chopped (I used Bartlett pears)
Instructions
- Grease a large loaf pan. Line the bottom of the pan with a rectangle of parchment and grease the top of the parchment as well. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar into the pan, and tilt to coat the buttered surface. Shake out the excess. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350º.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Stir in the vanilla and sour cream, mixing just until blended. Gradually stir in the flour mixture until fully incorporated. Fold in the chopped pears using a rubber spatula.
- Bake for 45 to 65 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the outside edge of the cake. Carefully invert onto a cooling rack. If the cake won't come out of the pan, tap it firmly with a knife on the bottom and sides of the pan. Set aside to cool completely.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size | |
| Amount Per Serving | As Served |
| Calories 2560kcal Calories from fat 922 | |
| % Daily Value | |
| Total Fat 102g | 157% |
| Saturated Fat 60g | 300% |
| Transfat 3g | |
| Cholesterol 563mg | 188% |
| Sodium 1702mg | 71% |
| Carbohydrate 381g | 127% |
| Dietary Fiber 13g | 52% |
| Sugars 177g | |
| Protein 35g | |
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:
| Calories | 2000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Fat | Less than | 65g |
| Sat Fat | Less than | 25g |
| Cholesterol | Less than | 300mg |
| Sodium | Less than | 2,400mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 300g | |
| Dietary Fiber | 25g | |
Marvelous Pear Breads for September
#TwelveLoaves -September: Hosted by Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla. Welcome, fall baking! The month of August was all about baking with fresh, summer herbs. September is all about baking with PEARS! Whatever you bake, (yeasted, quick bread, crackers, muffins, braids, flatbreads, etc) have fun and let’s have a delicious month of bread with Pears. Let’s get baking!
#TwelveLoaves September: Pears If you’d like to add your bread to the collection with the Linky Tool this month, here’s what you need to do! 1. When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone’s posts. Please make sure that your bread is inspired by the theme! 2. Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme. 3. Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this September 2014, and posted on your blog by September 30, 2014.
#TwelveLoaves runs smoothly with the help of our bakers. A big thanks to Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla for hosting our event!
#TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess and run with the help of Heather of girlichef.
- Asian Pear Bread by NinjaBaking
- Pear and Almond Muffins by Basic N Delicious
- Pear and Cherry Sourdough Bread by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Pear, Banana, and Quinoa Muffins by Rhubarb and Honey
- Pear Streusel Sweet Rolls by Try Anything Once Culinary
- Raspberry Pear Pecan Quick Bread by A Baker’s House
- SavoryPear Flatbread with Gorgonzola by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Spiced Buttermilk Poached Pear Bread by girlichef
- Turkish Pear Coffee Bread by A Shaggy Dough Story
That is a gorgeous loaf! I’ve never had a pear quick bread either. I love the idea of dusting the pan with cinnamon and sugar.
I love breads like this, perfect with a strong cuppa coffee:@)
This is nice treat for autumn.. I think I would like it the next day toasted.. 🙂
Seriously, I don’t know what is going on. I didn’t receive any email notification that you had posted anything new (despite subscribing) and thought you must have been taking a break for your Labor Day long weekend. But then I saw on FB a whole lot of yummy things posted by you so knew something was awry. So many issues! I’ll resubscribe (again) and hope that sorts the issues. Un-bloody-believable! xx
We won’t have pears here for a little bit, but when they arrive? I’m gunna need this bread! I haven’t made a pear loaf before – which is very, very sad…
Never did it with pear. Beautiful result.
Beautiful loaf, Liz! Sour cream sounds like the perfect addition.
I have no doubt that your pear bread would win out over banana bread. Too bad your family was resistant. Their loss.
Looks delicious and what a perfect loaf!! I like pear bread 🙂
Liz!!! I love pear quick bread!! darn it!! I missed Twelve Loaves again!! I’ll be back in November for sure! Pinned and love this!
I have never made a pear bread. This sounds wonderful. What is with your home based testers? I am thinking they really missed out on this one!
I’ve been watching the Great British Bake Off online and it’s a big deal to get your fruit even distributed throughout a cake or loaf so now I am even more impressed with your pear distribution, Liz. 🙂 I am sure the judges would agree. Never mind if the family doesn’t like pear bread. That’s why we have friends. Very pretty!
sour cream bread is the BEST! It adds so much moistness and a hint of tang. I LOVE IT especially paired with the pears:)
I dust the pan of my banana bread loaves with sugar and cinnamon and just love what it does to the crust.
I’m so glad you developed a Pear Quick Bread recipe. I’m a pear lover and can’t wait to try it.
I’ve never had pear bread before – this sounds and looks delicious!
I’ve never seen a pear bread, it’s so original !
My family would be very willing taste testers for this bread;)At least your friends got to enjoy this bread (lucky them!). So perfect and moist and beautiful for fall, Lizzy!! xx
The bread looks divine. Not sure I ever had a pear one either but I can imagine how good it is. Love the idea of dusting the pan first with spices.
Thanks for the tip of dusting the pan with spices and sugar before baking– I am going to use that approach on my next loaf. This pear bread looks wonderful!
What a fantabulous idea, Liz! You coat the entire pan with flour, sugar and cinnamon? Yummm! Your girlfriends are very lucky to know you =) Thanks again for another winning recipe =)
This is a first for me and I would love to try it. By the way, the last post I received was from August 25th. Do I need to subscribe again?
I absolutely love pears in anything. Your loaf looks divine.
This bread looks so yummy and moist. I have only baked with pears in pies. I am super excited about using them for bread.
I love pear breads! A nice slice of this with my morning coffee would make a perfect breakfast.
Mmmm – you had me at the mention of sour cream – I always have the best luck with muffins or quick breads when using sour cream. This bread sounds and looks delicious!
Nice loaf of bread, it looks delicious! My neighbor will love this!
I love sour cream quick breads (and pears of course) so this one is a must-try. I hope mine looks half as good as yours!
This bread sounds wonder. I don’t bake with pears too much and I am not sure why, because I love eating pears.
This pear quick bread looks amazing! Perfect for fall. Pinned 🙂
This looks and sounds so good, I can’t imagine why your home testers passed on it! Thank goodness for girlfriends!!
It is the season of pears and quickbreads! This looks heavenly Liz!
A good pear bread always set me straight 😀
Yours looks delicious!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I love that you use pears and sour cream in your loaf. I can just taste it!
I love sour cream batters, they preserve their moisture longer and taste better. And combined with pears, it must be a delicacy. Great pics!
Delicious and rich. I bet this freezes well too and that is great when you have unexpected guests coming to visitI hope we get some rip pears here in HK soon. They are usually so green it takes them almost a month to ripen. Take Care, BAM
We’re just starting to see pears at the market and it’s going to cool off so the oven can come back on. What a great recipe to get me back into the baking season!
I think I’d love this loaf too, Liz! I’ve bookmarked it to try.
Ahh the cinnamon sugar crust is a brilliant idea, Lizzy…how could anyone resist a bite of this??!!! ..If ever you need a new taste tester, look no further! I’ll be there with bells on to sample any of your confections- especially this pear loaf! ^_^
xoxoxoxo
Tammy<333
What a beautiful loaf bread and luvin that there’s pears! Looking fwd to making this these next weeks. 😉
Was so happy to bake now this beauty but you forgot to mention the temperature to bake the cake for . 😞
My apologies! Please preheat your oven to 350º. I hope you enjoy this bread as much as we did.
I did a search recently, using ‘pears’ and ‘sour cream’ as my search terms, and this is what came up. I have made it three times already. It’s delicious!
Thanks so much for the feedback, Tamara! It is a wonderful bread—and nice to use pears for a change 🙂
“sprinkle cinnamon sugar into pan” Bit unclear. Is that part of the sugar and cinnamon in re recipe or in addition?
Hi, Natalie, that instruction refers to the “cinnamon sugar” in the recipe. This mixture (you can buy it premixed or mix it up yourself) is used to coat the pan. Later in the recipe you’ll see “cinnamon” listed. That’s the cinnamon that goes into the batter. Does that make sense?