Today it reached 27°C with bright sun and clear blue skies in Calgary. By tomorrow the forecast promises snow and a high of just 2°C. Welcome to fall’s dramatic entrance — sudden, theatrical and a little unfair.
There’s a small silver lining to the rapid swing from warm to near-freezing: you can finally pull on your wool sweater, preheat the oven and bake something comforting. A pie, a loaf, or a spiced cake with salted caramel fits the bill perfectly. With swimsuit season long behind us, indulgence is officially in season.
This particular spice cake with salted caramel was something I made when I still had a full kitchen, not a microwave on a cart and a barbecue in the yard. It began as a way to use overripe pears and a jar of salted caramel that already performed beautifully on chocolate cupcakes. After sharing the cupcakes, the cake felt like a lucky leftover.
Now the pears keep coming and my craving for salted caramel is back. Even if I can’t fill the house with the warm aromas of butter, sugar and cinnamon to counter the cold damp air outside, I take comfort in imagining you baking one of these at home and letting your kitchen do the comforting work.
And after all, it’s always someone’s birthday somewhere — a perfect excuse to make a cake and share a moment of sweetness, even when the weather can’t decide what season it is.