Ingredients

For the cake

cup castor sugar
2 eggs
cup olive oil
cup Sauternes (or similar) dessert wine
1/3 cup milk
2 lemons, finely grated zest only
1 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
double cream, to serve
For the pears
1 orange
4 beurre bosc pears, halved
cup maple syrup
cup Sauternes (or similar) dessert wine

Method
For the pears
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Cut two long strips of rind from the orange, then juice the orange. Peel pears, cut in half and
scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Place pears in a roasting pan. Combine maple syrup, wine,
orange rind and cup of orange juice, then pour this over the pears. Toss to coat, cover
tightly with foil, and place in oven. Roast for 1 hour or until tender and syrup has thickened.
For the cake
3. Meanwhile, lightly grease an 11 x 22cm loaf tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.
4. Beat the sugar and eggs together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and creamy.
Add the oil, wine, milk and lemon zest and beat until well combined. Add the sifted flour and
baking powder and slowly add to the mixture, continuing to beat until just combined.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake alongside the Olive oil and Sauternes cake with
maple roasted pears for 40-50 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Allow to
stand for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Slice the cake into eight portions. Drizzle with syrup, add a dollop of cream and serve with the
pears