Have you seen the beautiful cakes decorated with colorful dried slices of pears? A pin featuring a gorgeous cake with slices of pears on Pinterest caught my attention. Teresa Labza from Poland is the one who made this beautiful cake. She has developed a technique for dyeing and drying pear and apple slices. For her post, you can click here ►Candy Company.
To make these, you will definitely need a mandoline. Fortunately, I bought one for another project recently. These things are really sharp so take extra caution! While you are at it, you might want to invest in a pair of cut-resistant gloves
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Preparing The Pears
You will want to choose a firmer pear and try to choose the ones with a relatively uniform shape. Before slicing the pears, cut a slice off one edge of the pear so it lays nicely on the mandoline. With the slice thickness adjustment knob, set the slices for 1/16 of an inch on the mandoline.
Slice the pears following the manufacturer’s directions with your mandoline. You will probably only be able to cut 4 – 10 perfect slices per pear.
Some of the fruit slices will not have a pear shape. You can eat those, share them with the kids, or cook them in sugar water with cinnamon and cloves.
Cook Slices of Pears in Sugar Water
In a saucepan or skillet, pour 2 cups of water and add 1 cup of sugar. Add a drop of food color to the sugar-water mixture. Turn the heat down to medium and simmer for 15 minutes. The slices will become transparent.
Be aware that the colors will darken as they sit in the cooling liquid and dry in the oven. I wanted these to be more pastel. You can add another drop if you want a darker color. (If you are making more or less of the pear slices, just use 2 parts water to 1 part sugar.)
After simmering for 15 minutes, turn off the burner and allow the fruit slices to soak in the syrup for 1 – 2 hours.
Pat the pear slices dry with a paper towel and place the slices on a silicone mat 
in a sheet pan. Place the pan with the pear slices in a 167° oven and bake for 2 hours.
After baking, the pear slices should still be pliable. The slices will continue to harden after removing them from the oven. We taste-tested the rounded pieces. These remind me of Fruit Roll-ups.
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Allow the pear slices to cool. You can make these ahead of time. These can be stored in an airtight container for a couple of months. Be sure to place parchment paper between layers.
How To Use The Slices Of Pears
Attach the pears to fresh buttercream frosting. These can be used to decorate cakes or cupcakes. (I made a 7″ angel food cake and frosted it with half of the recipe for ‘perfect buttercream frosting.) These would also look beautiful on top of a chocolate ganache. Keep in mind the ganache needs to be liquid or at least not set when attaching the dried pear slices.
With a paintbrush, I dusted pearl dusting powder 
around the edges over the slivers of skin on the pear. It gives a subtle shimmer to the edges of the pear slices.
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Did you bake the pears at 167 degrees farenheit or Celsius?
Sorry, Andree. 167° Fahrenheit. Good luck with your dried pears. They turn out beautiful.
Hello! I am dying to make these dyed pears. Sadly, I have an ancient oven which turns off any time you reduce the temp to anything below 350 degrees. Do you think I could use a dehydrator instead?
Yes, I think you could. My husband has one he uses to make jerky. The book says you can dry fruit but I have not. Just watch it, you don’t want to over-dry them. If you do, let me know how it works! Good luck!
PS. The pears you made are BEAUTIFUL!!
Thank you, Rosa! They are quite easy to make.
Thank you!!!
So beautiful! Do you store the completed pears at room temp or in the fridge? Thanks
Hi, Swooz! Thank you! I store them in an air-tight container. Use parchment or wax paper between layers of them and store them at room temperature.
The slices turned sugar white over night, any idea why?
Rae, the only thing I can think of is that I used gel food coloring. Did you use regular liquid food coloring? Maybe it isn’t as potent?