What to do when you have homegrown pears and wild raspberries, a pantry full of bizarre disparate things, and tentative plans with someone who ends up staying in?

I started with eight ounces of apple sauce, in this case four ounces of peach and four ounces of blueberry, since they were the two single-serving Motts No Sugar Added I had on hand. I threw in a scoop of vanilla protein powder*, a cup of uncooked oatmeal, and a splash of water to sate the oatmeal whilst baking. Then I threw in two eggs, about 3/4ths cup flour, a splash of extra virgin olive oil** and a cup or so of sugar. After several shakes of ground nutmeg and cinnamon I made myself stop adding things. Couldn’t taste it since it had raw eggs already in the mix, but in hindsight I’d add more sugar next time.

In the meantime, I skinned and cored two BIG d’Anjou pears, sliced them thinly, then cut the slices into roughly quarter-sized, quarter-inch-thick pieces. These went into the batter as well. I poured the batter into a Pam’d, round cake pan. (Since there’s no baking soda or powder, there’s also no rising, so I filled it up nearly to the rim.) On top, I sprinkled about another third cup of oatmeal and a few handfuls of finely-diced walnuts, then some of my raspberries mashed with sugar.

It went into the oven for an hour at 325°. I looked lovingly at it a few times and jabbed it with a fork a few more until it was done.

The result is kind of custardy, and kind of cakey, and looks like a pie. It’s, well, very healthy and surprisingly delicious, though it’d be better with some vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, or maybe with a drizzle of honey. Or both? That might be a little much.

And the great thing about using an egg base instead of trying to wing a cake is that the ratios don’t need to be nearly as precise. There’s no worry of substituting for milk or butter. Of course, an inobtrusive, saturated-fattier oil like canola or vegetable may have worked better, but the result of my recipe here turned out very light-tasting and an ideal vehicle for this beautiful fresh fruit I was pleased to take off my coworker’s hands.

* Rationale: I didn’t have a milk analog OR any vanilla
** Rationale: Without this, the recipe had very little fat, and I figured a little more would help keep it undry

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