Chocolate and Pear Cake

The other evening I really wanted to bake a cake, so I used my moist chocolate cake recipe and decided to top it with softly caramelised pears. We ate it warm before I took any good photos. I liked it a lot, so it was made again, this time with a few improvements, and eaten before I could take any photo too!. So here I present you the finished article, triple tested and enjoyed every time: my chocolate and pear cake.

The cake is dark, chocolatey and moist, with a soft texture. The pear is soft and slightly caramelised on top, and adds a lovely extra taste and texture hidden in the middle.

This makes a Big cake, like family sized 24cm round and deep too! So halving the mix makes a nice 18-20cm cake that is still deep and makes about 6 portions. I have put the quantities  for a smaller cake in brackets.

Chocolate and Pear Cake 

4 small pears                                                (2 small pears)
185 butter, melted                                         (90g butter, melted)
300g brown sugar/muscovado sugar               (150g brown sugar/muscovado sugar) 
3 eggs                                                          (1 large egg/2 small eggs)
1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)                       (1/2 tsp vanilla essence (optional))
160ml water                                                  (80ml water)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder                         (1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder)
225g self-raising flour                                    (110g self-raising flour )

75g plain flour                                               (40g plain flour)

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda                           (1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda)        

•  Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line a deep 24cm (18-20cm) round cake pan.

•  Peel the pears and slice them. Place in a small shallow pan and cover with water. Simmer over a low heat until just soft. Keep an eye on them while you start on the cake.

•  Beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the eggs, beating each one in thoroughly. Mix in the vanilla essence.

•  Drain the pears through a sieve over a glass jug so that you save the water. 

•  Return the pears to the dry pan and add 15g (10g) of butter and 20g (10g) of sugar. Place on a low heat to slightly caramelise.

•  Measure out 150ml (80ml) of the pear water and mix in the cocoa powder until dissolved. Add to the bowl of eggs, butter and sugar and and mix until smooth.

•  Sieve the flours and bicarb into the bowl and beat until combined. 

•  Pour half the mixture into the cake pan and arrange half the pears on top. Then pour over the other half of mixture in and arrange the pears in a spiral pattern on the top.

•  Bake for about 40 minutes until a cake tester comes out almost clean but is still moist. Leave to cool slightly. 
•  Enjoy a slice of the cake with a cup of tea!