Chocolate Pear Cake

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Ingredients

120g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
120g dark chocolate, chopped (melted and cooled slightly)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal or hazelnut meal, or both.
4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
4 pears, poached (Bosc are ideal but any variety will work)

Summary

Poach the pears:

  1. Peel, cut in half and core the pears. Combine 2-3 cups of water and half a cup of sugar in a sauce pan on medium-high heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.
  2. Add the pears, adding more water if needed to cover the pears. Bring to a low boil and cook for 20-25 min or until fork tender.
  3. Drain and set aside.

Melt the chocolate and set aside.

This can be done one of two ways:

(1) In the microwave, on 20 second intervals or

(2) in a bain marie: set a saucepan with about an inch of water over high heat, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat. Put the chopped chocolate in a shallow, heatproof bowl and set the bowl over the saucepan, making sure the bottom does not touch the bottom of the pan. Watch the chocolate melt.

Make the cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 180⁰C. Butter or spray a 9 or 10 inch spring form pan or line the bottom with non-stick baking paper.
  2. Sift together the flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Beat butter and sugar on a medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the melted chocolate, beat on a low speed until combined. Still on low speed, add the sifted flour mixture and beat for 1 minute, or until just combined.
  4. Pour the batter into prepared cake pan. Arrange the sliced pears in a circle.
  5. Bake the cake for 30 to 40 minutes. Do not overbake. When a tester is inserted into the center of the cake, it should come out with only a few moist crumbs attached.
  6. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

You can order organic pears when in season, along with many other groceries from our webstore.

 

Recipe by Confessions of a Tart

Photo of chocolate pear cake by Lairisha, on Flickr

Hints and Tips

Dairy free note: we made this cake twice, once substituting a dairy-free spread for the butter. This did not change the texture or the taste, but we did find that it needed a longer bake – maybe an extra 10 minutes. So, if you need to make this dairy free, know that you can. And let us know how you go!

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