Pear-Hazelnut Torte

Here's one of my favorite fall desserts, a recipe I found a few years ago in Local Flavors, the gorgeously tempting farmers' market cookbook by Deborah Madison. As always, I have tweaked the recipe a little to feature more local ingredients: whole grain wheat flour from Stutzman Farms, maple sugar from Gortner's, hazelnuts from Bud Luers, pears from Banzhaf Garten Organic Farm, eggs from Autumn Harvest Farm, and unsalted butter from Hartzler Family Dairy. With an array of good ingredients like that, you know this has to be seriously good stuff!

What I like best about this cake is how the toasted hazelnuts, finely ground, add a rich complexity to the buttery ripe pears without demanding too much sweetness. This is a somewhat dense, not too moist cake that -- I must confess! -- would make a good breakfast cake as well as a dessert.

So look for it today and tomorrow at Local Roots Market. And if you like it well enough, I might consider repeating it next week!