Low Fat Pear Cake

Ingredients
1-3/4 cups whole-grain pastry flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup fat-free plain yogurt
1-1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn baking soda
3/4 tspn ground nutmeg (optional)
1/2 tspn salt
1 large egg
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tspn vanilla extract
2 ripe medium pears -peeled and cut into 1/2″ chunks
2-3 tbsp slivered almonds

Note: For a regular cake, use 3/4 cup butter instead of yogurt and add 2 eggs instead of one and all-purpose flour instead of whole-grian flour.

For an eggless version, substitute 1/4 cup fruit(pear) puree + 1/2 tsp baking powder instead of 1 egg. Here are some more general egg substitutions for baking

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat a 9″ x 9″ baking pan with cooking spray. Instead, you can also use individual ramekins like I did.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar, egg, and oil until smooth. Whisk in the yogurt and the vanilla essence. Finally, stir in the cubed pears.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir just until blended. Scrape into the prepared pan or the ramekins. Sprinkle the slivered almonds on the top.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes (about 25 mins if you are using the ramekins), until the cake is springy to the touch, shrinks from the sides and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. This cake will not be too dark on the top, so if you like a bit of a color, change oven setting to BROIL and bake for another 20 seconds, not more. Let cool for 20-30 minutes on a wire rack, then slice and serve!

This light and low-fat pear and almond cake can be relished for breakfast or snack any other time of the day without feeling guilty. The pears make it soft while the almonds add a crunch to each bite.