Chef Dario Cavaliere writes a weekly food column for the Waterford News & Star

THIS is a lovely little recipe for a moist and delicious pear and almond loaf cake, that is easy and really quick to make. It is perfect with a cuppa in the afternoon as it is light and just the right amount of sweetness mostly from the pears. It also has a nice nutty bite to it from the ground almonds and will go equally well with a chilled glass of white wine if you don’t fancy the tea!

Serves 6

250g pears

180g ground almonds

120g plain flour

20g extra flour

180g soft butter

150g caster sugar

30g honey

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

3 eggs

½ sachet instant yeast

Peel and core the pears, then cut into large dice.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and the sugar then add the honey, juice and zest and mix again before adding the eggs one at a time until all incorporated.

Mix the flour and yeast together and then add it to the mix. Using a spatula, fold in the ground almonds and make sure that there are no lumps in the mix.

Lightly butter a loaf tin then dust it with a little of the extra flour. Toss the pears in any remaining extra flour, and lightly fold them into the batter before tipping the batter into the prepared loaf tin.

Place in a preheated oven for 45 minutes at 180oC. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from the tin and then cool completely on a wire rack.