Poached Pear and Date Cake

Grease a 24 cm square cake tin and fully line with baking paper.

Pears: Put the water, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan just large enough to hold the pears so they will stand upright. Bring to the boil then add the pears. Simmer very gently for about 10 minutes or until tender when pierced with a skewer. Carefully remove from the syrup and cool.
Preheat the oven to 170˚C.
Beat the eggs and sugar until very thick and pale. Gradually beat in the oil and vanilla until thick. Don’t add all at once or the mixture will curdle.
Combine all the remaining ingredients in a large bowl, tossing the dates so they are well coated in the flour.
Using a large metal spoon, fold into the egg mixture making sure there are no pockets of flour in the batter.
Pour into the tin and stand the pears upright in the batter so they are sitting on the base of the tin.
Bake for about 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cover the tin loosely with foil if the top is getting too brown. Cool in the tin until just warm, then using the sides of the baking paper, carefully lift the cake out.
Icing: Stir the icing sugar and maple syrup together and add enough orange juice to make a pourable icing.
To serve: Drizzle the icing over the cake and dust with icing sugar. Serve with softly whipped cream. Serves 8