The sweetness of ripe pears is always good when spiked with ginger and this recipe delivers a spicy triple-whammy: the ginger is used to flavour the pears as well as a rich custard, while a chunk of ginger cake turns the whole thing into a gingery, trifle-ish delight.
Serves 6
250g ginger cake
4 ripe pears
2 balls of preserved stem ginger in syrup, plus 2 tablespoons of the syrup from the jar
For the custard
200ml whole milk
300ml double cream
50g caster sugar
2–3 tablespoons syrup from the ginger jar
1 heaped teaspoon cornflour
4 large egg yolks
Start with the custard. Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan, bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Put the sugar, ginger syrup, cornflour and egg yolks into a bowl and whisk until well combined. Pour on the hot creamy milk, whisking as you do so to keep the mixture smooth. Return to a clean saucepan. Cook gently, stirring all the time, until the custard thickens. Don’t let it boil or it will split. Pass the custard through a sieve into a bowl and cover the surface closely with cling film or greaseproof paper to stop a skin forming. Leave to cool completely.
Cut the ginger cake into 6 equal slices. Place each one in a glass serving dish and press it so it curves and more or less lines the base, without squishing it too much. (Alternatively, just break the cake into chunks and distribute between the bowls.) Pour the ginger custard over the cake, distributing it evenly, and chill in the fridge to allow the custard to set.
Peel, quarter and core the pears. Cut each quarter into roughly 1cm cubes. Finely chop the stem ginger and add to the pears with 2 tablespoons of ginger syrup. Stir together.
When you’re ready to serve, spoon the gingery pears and their syrup on to the custard and bring to the table.
SWAPS For a slightly less gingery pud, replace the cake with some of my independent crumble (here). Sprinkle on top of the custard and pears, rather than in the bottom of the bowls.