Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan, line it with parchment paper. then grease the top of the parchment.

In a bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cardamom. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and sour cream until smooth.

With the mixer running, alternate adding the flour mixture and the egg mixture to the butter and sugar. (I started with one-third of the flour, then half of the wet ingredients, another third of the flour, the remaining wet ingredients, ending with the remaining flour mixture). Beat until just combined without overmixing. Pour the batter into your prepared pan.

Slice the pears thinly, about ¼-inch thickness (I kept the skin on the pear). Arrange the pears in a concentric circle, overlapping just slightly, over the top of the cake. Sprinkle the turbinado sugar evenly over the fruit.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes (it took closer to an hour in my oven), or until the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and a tester inserted into the center comes out cleanly.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Before serving, using a fine sieve, dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar. And for extra decadence, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or top with whipped cream.