Honey and cardamom pudding with spiced pears and crème fraîche ice-cream

1.For crème fraîche ice-cream, combine milk and cream with vanilla seeds in a large saucepan. In a bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar and whisk until pale. Place crème fraîche in a large bowl, placed over another bowl filled with ice, and set aside. Bring milk mixture to the boil, then pour over egg yolk mixture, whisking to combine. Return to saucepan and cook, stirring continuously, over low heat until mixture thickly coats the back of a wooden spoon (about 5 minutes). Pour over crème fraîche and stir to combine. Refrigerate until well chilled (about 1 hour), then freeze in an ice-cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions. Freeze until required. Makes about 1¼ litres.

2.Preheat oven to 150C. Combine crème fraîche, sugar, honey, eggs, lemon rind and cardamom in a bowl. Add butter, stirring to combine, then sift over combined flours and a pinch of salt and fold to combine. Pour into a greased and floured 20cm-diameter cake pan (see note) and bake until an inserted skewer withdraws clean (about 1 hour 10 minutes). Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then carefully invert onto a plate.

3.Meanwhile, for pears, combine wine, sugar, vanilla bean and seeds and cardamom in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low-medium, add pear wedges and simmer until just soft (about 15 minutes). Remove pears from liquid, increase heat to high and cook until liquid becomes syrupy (about 10 minutes). Serve cake with pears and syrup, and crème fraîche ice-cream to the side.