The $0 Food Bank Dessert: Turning Canned Pears & Pancake Mix into a Family Favorite

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Hey, everybirdy! Today’s recipe is a total ‘pantry surprise.’ You know those nights when you’re staring into the cupboard, exhausted, and just need to make something work?

For us, that meant staring down two whole cases of canned pears from our local food bank. Combined with some pancake mix we always forget we have, I ended up creating what my family is now calling The Food Bank Pear Cake

I started this out by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. But, if I was to make this recipe again. I would bake it at 375 F, just so that it gets all the way done in the middle. Not that it was bad. Just not done enough to my liking. 

Please don’t be like me. Remember to spray your baking pan.I am usually great at remembering that first step but for whatever reason that night I did not remember. It was fine because the pears were on the bottom.  I used a 10 x 14 inch pan, which is the biggest baking dish I have, besides the lasagna pan. I used this because I wanted to use as many pears as I could.

Then I started the process of opening up my cans. I used 8 cans of pears. If you have trouble opening up cans with a regular can opener, I highly recommend using an electric can opener. I drained half of the cans, saving the other half in a liquid measuring cup.

Then I reached for my handy pair of Kitchen scissors, and started cutting the pears. You do not have to do this if you have “normal” canned pears. But the pears that I was using were a bit on the tougher side. And some people in the house have sensitive mouths. I decided to cut them up. I just added them to the pan. I forgot to spray the pan before. But it was fine because the pears had enough juice in them. 

When I was chopping up the pears, I thought to myself “this is the reason I consider baking a form of therapy.” I was listening to the chopping of the scissors and my mind was only focused on the pears with the sound. Nothing else. Some people have birds chirping that gives them a peace of mind but apparently mine is the noises and smells of baking. *I want to make something clear, that I am using baking as a healing component for myself. I want to help other people feel that calm too. But it is in no part going to replace going to get therapy if you really need it. And I am not a professional. I am just your average person who loves baking and wants to share her love with everyone. 

On to the cake part of the dessert. I had 2 boxes of pancake mix that I wanted to use. It was a great use of it because this box only required water. Before I added the water I wanted it to taste a bit more like a cake than a pancake. And i remember that i was going to have a bit more sweetness to it because I was saving the juice. So I added half a cup of sugar to the mixture. 

I then added 2 cups of pear juice. Use your judgement here. Separate the pears and juice in a different bowl. And if it looks good to use, than you can use it. But, if there is something that you feel is off about it.Don’t worry about it. Just use 4 cups of water, and you’ll be grand. 

I did add in 2 cups of water with the pear juice because it needed more liquid. 

I added in enough vanilla. In the recipe I say 1 teaspoon. But I’m gonna let you in on a little secret “ I never measure my vanilla.” I also just guess-ta-mate how much i want to use. Which I have been doing for a while now and it hasn’t gotten me in trouble, yet. 

I added little squares of butter on the top of the cake. And just for the heck of it I added some pumpkin pie spice that I had in my pantry. 

I baked this cake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. It would have taken a lot less time if I had gone up a bit in temperature. But then again, I was using a slightly bigger pan than I am used to. Again just because I wanted to use up a bunch of pears. 

I let it cool in the oven until I was ready to serve it. I find that I love a more crunchy topped cake than most people. So if you aren’t like me, you can take it out of your oven and let it cool on the counter. 

It was so good. There were no complaints about this one. The only thing that people were confused about was what to call this recipe. My dad said that it was a pear crisp, while my mom said it was a pear cake. I am leaning more towards the pear cake. Because yes, you can have a pear crisp without oatmeal. It just feels wrong. 

The great thing about this recipe is that it can be changed to whatever ingredients you have in your pantry. Or whatever the food bank gave you. Because let me tell you, I know how frustrating it is: your waiting in your car for hours (sometimes minutes, depends on a lot of things), you get your food from the mobile food bank. Bring it home only to find you were given a bunch of canned items. Nothing wrong with canned items. I grew up on canned items, and I am obviously still eating them. It’s just sometimes daunting. 

This recipe is just a guide:

• Canned Fruit – Canned Pears 
• Boxed Mix of Choice – Pancake Mix 
• Sweetener of Choice – Optional (maybe you only want to add in the juice from the fruit and that is fine.)
• Vanilla – Optional 
• Butter – Or Margarine, or nothing at all. This cake would still be good if you don’t add those things. 
• Spice of Choice – optional – I used Pumpkin pie spice simply because it was there in my pantry. 

Prepare it like the recipe says. And enjoy. 

This could be a completely free dessert recipe. Not including the cost of filter water. Because i can’t do that type of math. But if you got the canned fruit, and the baking mix from the food bank you could make this recipe. 

I hope that you like this recipe. And I hope you follow for more inexpensive recipes that you can make from food bank finds.