Pear Spice Bundt Cake with Walnut Praline Topping

I just wanted to drop in and say... Happy Thanksgiving! I'm too distracted by turkey-roasting, pastry-making, and movie watching to think of much else to say. Last week I baked this bundt cake, hoping I'd have something special to share with you on Thanksgiving. It was definitely worthy! Richly spiced with generous chunks of ripe pear and topped with a caramel-walnut-praline. The cake itself is so moist and sweet that the topping is almost unnecessary. But it sure looks spectacular. The perfect holiday treat.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. allspice
3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, separated
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 pears, peeled, cored, and roughly diced
1 cup walnuts, toasted and finely chopped (optional)

Walnut Praline:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour bundt pan.

2. Sift together flour,  baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Beat together butter, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until fluffy (about 3 minutes in a stand mixer). Add yolks 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately in batches, mixing well after each addition.  Fold in pear pieces and chopped walnuts.

3. Beat egg whites in another bowl until they just hold stiff peaks, then fold whites into batter gently but thoroughly.

4. Spoon batter into pan, smoothing top, and bake in preheated oven until a toothpick comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then invert onto rack and cool completely.

5. Stir golden brown sugar, whipping cream and  1/2 cup butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat until smooth. Boil 3 minutes, stirring often. Stir in walnut pieces. Spoon warm topping over cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.

(Adapted from Joy the Baker)