How to Make Candied Pear Slices

Candied pear slices are a relatively easy way to make a stunning decoration for your cakes. All you need to make them is a few pears, sugar, and food coloring if you want to make different colors.

The trend of covering cakes in brilliantly colored pear slices can be credited to Tortik Annushka, a bakery and pastry school based in Moscow. The cakes they make are absolutely stunning, so definitely check them out for some inspiration.

In this post I’ll go over how candy the pears, then either dehydrate them to make flexible slices or bake them to make crispy pear chips.

Which type of pear is best for candying?

For candying you’ll want to choose firm pears that will be easy to slice. Don’t let them get too ripe, or your slices might be too delicate and fall apart in the candying process.

I recommend going with Bosc pears for candying. Bosc pears are a variety that stay firm even when ripe, and they have a clearly defined “pear” shape.

How many pears do you need to cover a cake?

To get those perfect tall pear slices, you will only be able to use slices from the center of the pear. With that in mind, how many pears you will need for your end goal?

For just a cake topper, one or two pears will be enough. If you want to cover an entire cake in perfect pear slices, you will need a lot more!

I usually get about 4 to 7 cake-worthy slices out of each pear, and it took me 28 slices to cover a six-inch cake with two rows of pears. So worst case you would need at least 7 pears to get enough slices to cover the sides of a small cake.

Err on the side of caution and get extra pears so that you have plenty to work with. After all, there’s no harm in having a few extra pears around for snacking!

How to slice pears for candying

You can slice the pears using a mandolin for perfectly even slices, or with a nice sharp knife. Slice the pears about 1/4 inch thick. This might seem a little too thick, but they will shrink as they dehydrate or bake. Don’t go any thinner than 1/8 inch.

I find it easier to start slicing the pears from the center. If you start in the center, you’ll be sure to get that perfect slice with the stem on top, and a few good slices on either side.

How to candy and color the pear slices

Set up a few baking sheets lined with parchment paper or silicone mats. Or, if you plan to use a dehydrator, have the dehydrator trays ready to load up.

Once you have all your pear slices, it’s time to cook them in syrup. Mix together equal parts sugar and water in a medium-sized saucepot, then bring to a simmer. Make enough syrup so that it’s a few inches deep in the pot.

Simmer the pear slices in batches. You can do several pear slices at a time, but you want to make sure they are covered in syrup as they cook. Simmer each batch for a few minutes until the slices start to soften and turn translucent. Then transfer the slices to your prepared trays in a single layer.

If you would like to color the pears, you can add a few drops of food coloring to your syrup. Gel coloring will give you the strongest color, but liquid food coloring will work as well.

To make an ombre effect, start with just a drop of coloring. Then cook the pear slices in batches, adding progressively more coloring for each batch. If you want completely different colored pears, you will need to make different batches of syrup.

Alternatively, you could also paint the pear slices with thinned out gel coloring after they are candied. This would allow for more precision with the color, but also take a lot more time!

How to dehydrate candied pear slices

Dehydrating the candied pear slices will give them a soft and chewy texture. Dehydrated slices are better for covering a cake because they are flexible enough to fit the curve of the cake.

You can dehydrate the pears using either your oven or a dehydrator.

If using your oven, bake the slices at 170 F (or as low as your oven will go), flipping every hour or so until the slices are dried to your liking. This process will take anywhere from three to six hours. The finished slices should be dry and flexible, but they will still be slightly tacky from the sugar.

If using a dehydrator, simply follow the manufacturer’s instructions for drying fruit. If your dehydrator has smaller screen trays or fruit roll trays, you’ll definitely want to use those to avoid sticking.

I have found that using a dehydrator creates flatter slices, while the oven tends to cause the slices to curl up at the edges a bit. You might be able to avoid this if your oven can be set to a lower temperature.

Store dehydrated pear slices between layers of parchment or wax paper in an airtight container until ready to use.

How to bake candied pear slices

Baking the pear slices at a higher temperature will give them a crisper texture. I like to first dry them out for about an hour at 275 F, then raise the oven temperature to 350 F and bake for about 10 more minutes to get the edges nice and crisp.

If you choose to bake at a higher temperature, the slices will brown. So for this method I don’t recommend coloring the slices. Instead, just embrace the natural look!

Store the baked pear slices in an airtight container until ready to use. These make great cake or cupcake toppers since they are crisp enough to stand up on their own.