On my daily walk to pick up my Herald at the newsagent I pass some lovely gardens whose charming displays have changed distracting me with delightful displays and aromas, ever changing with the seasons. One garden boasts a beautiful ornamental pear tree, abundant with teardrops of dappled skinned pears. At the corner is a spiky blaeberries bush tangled beside an abundance of bright, bulging rose hips.

This moist delicious yoghurt loaf cake is a homage to this autumn bounty…and no, I didn’t pinch the pears!

Ingredients:

150g unsalted butter, room temperature

225g soft brown or caster sugar

2 large free- range eggs

140g thick Greek style yoghurt

Juice and zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

50g ginger in syrup or crystallised ginger, chopped into small pieces

225g self – raising flour, sifted

1 tablespoon milk

Pinch of salt

150g blaeberries, (blueberries or blackcurrants)

2 unripe pears

For topping

2 tablespoons demerara or granulated sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Icing sugar for final dusting

Method:

Pre-heat oven 180C / Gas 4

1 kg loaf tin, (approx. 22cmx 8cmx 7cm)

Grease and line the baking tin, leaving the greaseproof paper longer at the sides to allow

you to lift the baked cake out of the tin rather than turn it upside down.

Beat the butter and 225g soft brown or caster sugar together until light and fluffy.

Whisk the eggs separately with a fork and add gradually to the butter mix.

Whisk in the Greek yoghurt, lemon juice, zest and the pieces of chopped ginger.

Now add the sifted flour, the salt and the milk and carefully blend everything together to

form a thick better.

Use a large spoon to gently fold in the berries.

Pour into the greased baking tin.

Core the pears and cut into slices and then quarters. Decorate the top of the cake leaving the pear pieces sticking out of the batter.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 50 minutes.

Mix the demerara sugar and cinnamon together.

Remove the cake and scatter the sugar topping across the surface.

Bake for a further 15-20 minutes until the top is firm and a skewer pushed into the middle

comes out clean. It is a very moist cake benefits from being well cooked. Make sure you are

checking the cake and not the moisture from the pears.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes or so.

Use the over- hanging greaseproof paper to lift the cake out of the tin and onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve with Greek yoghurt or swirls of indulgent whipped double cream.

Mary Contini OBE is a writer and Director of Valvona & Crolla ltd. We are happy to welcome you in our CaffèBar and shop again, open all day. Book and order online: www. valvonacrolla.com Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. www.richardsonsofwhitehaven.co.uk