Celebrate the yin to your yang, as the seasons come into balance this Autumnal Equinox says resident foodie Michael Domitrovich.
Image: Natalie Kucken
The sun enters Libra today, at 4:44 PM EDT, marking the Autumnal Equinox and the beginning of Fall.
Every equinox captures a moment of balance – when the amount of daylight and darkness is equal, whether you find yourself above or below the equator.
We’ve just finish a solar transit through mutable Virgo, in which we became all too aware of the reality of just about everything we are devoted to, lining up and refining the details of every little plan we could conceive.
Also, since it’s the start of a new season, the Sun is moving into a cardinal sign. This brings an infusion of newness on a wave of intensity – that feeling of things getting going, finally.
However, since Libra tends to prioritize the needs of the other over the individual, it can feel wonky trying to figure out how to move forward in whatever race you may be running without leaving everything else behind. It may feel contradictory… but it’s utterly authentic.
Balance is not static. It’s not always 50/50 either. It’s 60/40, or 70/30, but neither 70, nor 30. Rather, it’s the slash in the middle, the delicate space of possibility between the two. It’s a moment of pause in flux. It’s an exquisite expression of cosmic poise. The “S” that joins the Yin to the Yang, the central axis, the middle path, the fulcrum of the Libran scales.
Now, Pause. Let the awareness of that center space into your body. Distribute the weight equally between your right and left, front and back. Know that there, in that place of poise, you are activating your central self. Then allow the motion of the next few days to send you cascading into the business of Fall with healthy momentum.
Whatever you planned that doesn’t have to happen, let it go with the end of Virgo, razing your fields and cutting your losses. Whatever still feels alive and like it wants to be developed further, buckle down, harvest the fruits, and use the cardinal energy to initiate a process of activation, preservation, or materialization.
I always do a ritual on the Libra Equinox to honor balance: a ceremony in which I re-evaluate any of my recent intentions, ditching the ones that don’t pop anymore, and re-activating the ones that do. The ritual is always a little different, but no matter what is done, I like to make an offering of something delicious.
My offering for you, and this equinox, is a Harvest Pear Cake with Black Pepper Hard Cider Glaze. I’ve used pears and whole wheat flour to honor the tail end of Virgo and the recent Harvest moon. I also wanted to strike a balance between sweet, sour, salty, spicy, and bitter flavors. The Black Pepper Hard Cider Glaze does this beautifully – with bitterness from the fermented cider reduced into a tangy syrup, mixed with sweet powdered sugar and piquant black pepper.
Harvest Pear Cake with Black Pepper Hard Cider Glaze
For the cake:
1 cup canola oil
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (from a piece about 4 in. square)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups finely chopped pears (from 4 or 5 medium pears, peeled and cored)
For the glaze:
2 12-oz. bottles hard pear cider
1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of sea salt
- Preheat the oven to 350*F. Butter or spray a 9-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper, then butter or spray the parchment.
- Using a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, (or an electric handheld mixer) combine the vegetable oil and sugar. Add the eggs and mix until smooth. Add the grated ginger and vanilla and mix to combine.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, a little at a time, mixing until just combined. Fold in the chopped pears.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake in the center of the oven for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- While the cake is cooling, prepare the glaze by pouring the hard pear cider into a saucepan and cooking over high heat until it is reduced to ½ cup. Add the confectioner’s sugar, black pepper, salt, and lemon juice and whisk until the confectioner’s sugar dissolves and the glaze looks smooth. Turn off the heat and let the glaze cool slightly
- When the cake pan is cool enough to handle, run a knife around the outside edge of the cake to loosen it, then invert the cake onto a serving plate with slightly raised edges.
- Pour the glaze over the center of the cake. Slice and serve once the glaze has set.
