Welcome to 2009. Let's Cook!

Happy New Year, Gentle Reader. I hope you ushered in 2009 in some sort of style. The husband and I were in bed a little after 10 last night after watching Hellboy II and laughing our asses off at the folks who watched the Resolution Tower burn downtown then complained when they got singed by falling ashes. Morons.

I decided this morning that I'd finally break down and bake the pear Bundt cake I'd bought ingredients to make about a month or so ago. It's not any kind of New Year's cake, mind you. I just thought I'd make it.

Pear Bundt Cake1 can (15 oz.) reduced-sugar sliced pears
1 package (18-1/4 oz.) white cake mix
2 egg whites
1 egg
2 t confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray, then dust it with flour.
   
2. Drain the pears, reserving the syrup, then chop them.
   
3. Place the pears and syrup in a large mixing bowl, along with dry cake mix, egg whites and egg.
   
4. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then beat on high for 4 minutes.
   
5. Bake for 50-55 min. or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
   
6. Cool the cake for 10 min. in the pan, then invert it onto a wire rack or plate to cool completely.
   
7. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

Yield: 16 servings

Nutritional Info
Calories: 163
Fat: 4 g
Sat fat: 1 g
Protein: 2 g
Fiber: 1 g
Carbs: 30 g
Cholesterol: 13 mg
Na: 230 mg

The Faudie's Futzings

• I used a Pillsbury reduced-sugar cake mix, so that would probably affect the fat and carbs content of the recipe. I've had mixed results with the reduced-sugar devil's food mix, but I think I had enough moisture in this recipe to compensate for a lack of it that I experienced with the devil's food.
  
• I didn't have any whole eggs, so I used roughly the equivalent of one large egg and two egg whites in basic, pourable egg whites. I love my pourable egg whites!
  
• I didn't dust my cake with powdered sugar. Quite frankly, I didn't have time as I put the cake in the oven then went to kickbox, pulled it out between tracks then set it up to cool. Plus I thought I'd drizzle over it some pear-cinnamon caramel sauce I have taking up space in the refrigerator, so why bother with the sugar?

If you opt to make this cake yourself--and I do recommend giving it a shot since it's not a bad cake--don't be alarmed if your batter is lumpy. The pear chunks do survive the mixing process quite nicely, so it's a bit of a treat to take a bite of cake and get a hunk of pear in it.