Pear and Walnut Coffee Cake Recipe

First, make the crumb topping: combine the 3/4 cup brown sugar, ground allspice, ground cardamom, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, 2 tablespoons flour, wheat germ, walnuts, and 2 tablespoons butter in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Cover and chill in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the cake.

Next, prepare your pan: grease a 10-inch springform pan with butter, then lightly dust it with 2 tablespoons flour, tapping out any excess. Set the pan aside. In a separate bowl, toss the sliced pears with 1/2 juice of lemon; set these aside too.

Now, start the cake batter. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 2 lemon zest until the mixture is light and fluffy, which should take about 3-5 minutes.

To the creamed butter mixture, add the 2 large eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, mixing until just combined. Don't overmix here.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the 1 3/4 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Starting with the 1 cup cream, alternately add it to the cake batter along with the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined and no streaks of flour remain.