Today I prepared this beautiful colored pear slices. They are quiet simple but so great for cake decoration, without much effort.
The first step is to dye the sugar. I take about a knife tip of paste food color* for about 50g sugar. Mix the sugar and the food color till the sugar is evenly colored. Repeat this with every color you want. If you are looking for a more intensive color, just add more food coloring.
Cut the pears into 2-3mm thick slices and lay them evenly on a tray with baking paper below.
Coat the pear slices with about 2mm of colored sugar. You can use one or different colors per slice, but don't mix to many and to different colors, because you might just get a brownish end color.
Put the baking tray into the oven for 10min at 120°C convection setting. After 10min the sugar should be melted completely and absorbed by the pears. The baking paper might now be covered by a lake of pear juice, so it's time to put the slices onto a fresh sheet and repeat the step for another 10min. If there is still some excessive pear juice on the pears dry it carefully off with a tissue. Now dry the pear slices for 2-3 hours on the convection setting without any temperature. You can also do this over night without oven but it will take longer. They don't need to be dried fully to be able to decorate a cake with it, but if you want to store them for longer time, they need to be completely dry, otherwise they will go mouldy.
Have fun with colorful pear slices as cake decoration :-)
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Write a comment
Izzy chaplin (Sunday, 15 September 2019 16:23)
How long can I make in advance to cover a cake?
Bettina from the bakingjourney (Monday, 16 September 2019 18:58)
Hi Izzy,
they have to dry out completely, then you can store them dry for a few weeks. If not I would recommend making them just 2-3 days in advance and store them in the fridge.
Regards Bettina
TJ Manna (Monday, 23 September 2019 16:39)
Hello and let me say thank you in advance!! I'm wondering and hoping that I will be able to use a dehydrator instead of oven in the last step? You say convection but I do not have that option.
Bettina from the bakingjourney (Monday, 23 September 2019 20:09)
Hi TJ Manna,
I’m glad you like the pear slices. Sure you can use a dehydrator if you have that available, just use a low setting for the temperature. I’m from Germany and everybody has a convection setting on their oven there, so that was the easiest option for me. Have fun with the pears.
Regards Bettina
Christine (Sunday, 20 November 2022 12:50)
Hi
They look cool. Do they go soggy if I put them up against butter icing or chocolate ganache on a cake.
And how long will they last on a cake.
Thanks Christine
Bettina from thebakingjourney (Friday, 02 December 2022 16:53)
Hi Christine,
Thank you. On buttercream or ganache they should be fine, even on softer frostings as whipped cream they are ok for some time. How long they last is difficult to say. Definitely make sure they are dried completely before you put them on. I put them always a day in advance when I made a cake like this.
Regards Bettina