Chocolate Pear Cake
22 Comments | November 3, 2010 | Posted in Desserts
Pear season is in full swing in California. Chocolate season is always in full swing in the family. Combine the two - you get a very chocolaty peary cake that you wish could stay in season for the longest time. If you love moist cakes, then you will love this cake. Treat pears as your bonus. Enjoy.
Chocolate Pear CakeAdapted from Elra’s Baking Makes one 9-inch (23-cm) cake
To Poach the Pears:
4 Bosc pears or Bartlett pears, or any hard-flesh pear (I used Bartlett pears, Elra used Bosc)
2 cups water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
For the Cake Batter:
4 oz (113 g) bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces
½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup almond meal (finely ground almond), or hazelnut meal, or a combination of both
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder or Dutch process cocoa powder
1¼ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
4 oz (113 g) unsalted butter (leave at room temperature until soft)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (use 3/4 cup if you prefer a sweeter cake)
4 eggs, at room temperature
4 oz (113 g) unsalted butter (leave at room temperature until soft)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (use 3/4 cup if you prefer a sweeter cake)
4 eggs, at room temperature
First, poach the pears. Peal them, cut them in half, and core. In a medium saucepan, combine the water and sugar. Stir to dissolve. Arrange the pear halves in the pan (you can toss in the clove or lemon rind if you want to flavor the pears). Add more water if needed, to just cover the pears. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and maintaining a gentle boil, simmer, until the pears are fork-tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Make sure the pears are not overcooked or they will be mushy in the cake. Remove the pear halves from the pan using a slotted spoon. Set aside to cool, while you prepare the cake batter.
Now, prepare the cake batter. First, melt the chocolate - Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often. Or, you can melt it in a microwave oven. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F (175C). Butter the bottom of a 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan, line with parchment paper. Butter the paper as well. Coat the cake pan lightly with flour. Tap off the excess flour. Set aside. In a medium mixing bowl combine the flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer, beat the butter and sugar on a medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with each addition. Add the melted chocolate, beat on a low speed (speed #2) until incorporated. Add the flour mixture and beat for another minute (do not overbeat).
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the slices of pear in a circle, hollowed sides down (see the picture below). Bake the cake for 30 to 40 minutes. I baked mine for 35 and it was medium moist. 30 minutes should give you a super moist cake, if that’s what you want (my next goal). 40 minutes is good if you want your cake on a dry side. To check the cake for doneness, insert a skewer in the center of the cake and remove - it should come out with moist crumbs attached to it instead of being dry and clean. Remove the sides of the springform pan. Serve the cake warm or cooled. A dollop of ice cream on top of the still warm slice of cake should be delicious.
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22 Comments Add your own
1. burcu | November 3rd, 2010 at 9:33 pm
I love the first photo,simply perfect!
2. elra | November 3rd, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Hello Farida,
I am so glad that you tried the recipe. Thank you so much for letting me know. This cake is one of my favorite and the one that I make pretty often.
You have such a lovely blog Farida. Would love to learn more about Azeri’s cooking.
Cheers,
elra
3. Rosa | November 3rd, 2010 at 11:23 pm
A delicious looking cake! Chocolate and pear, a perfect combo…
Cheers,
Rosa
4. Natalya | November 4th, 2010 at 3:32 am
Farida, I love the combination of pears with chocolate. Nigella Lwason has a great recipe of suck a cake. But in her recipe she use canned peaches.
Yours looks so yummy !
But could yopu please give the ingredients in grams ? Thanks!
5. Tamanna | November 4th, 2010 at 11:31 am
looks very lovely! never thought pear and chocolate can taste good together, but this looks delicious
6. zerrin | November 4th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
This looks just amazing! I love pear but never tried it in a chocolate cake, sounds yummy!
7. Nargiz | November 5th, 2010 at 7:49 am
Looks yummy Farida!!
What is the oz equivalent in gram?? I should taste it today!!!!
~Nargiz
8. FARIDA | November 5th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Thank you for all your comments, friends.
Elra, thank YOU for such a great recipe!
Nargiz, will update the post with grams soon. Check back.
9. farida | November 5th, 2010 at 8:11 am
NATALYA and NARGIZ: The grams and etc have been updated for you.
10. Tarlan | November 5th, 2010 at 8:21 am
Dear Fardia,
thanks for the new and interesting recipe!
the amount of flour seems to be too low in compare with numbers of eggs and amount of butter!! how the texture of the cake?? is it spongy?
11. FARIDA | November 5th, 2010 at 8:30 am
TARLAN: Thanks for your comment. The amounts are correct. The cake is moist and soft unless you bake it for 40 minutes (the longer you bake, the dried the cake gets).
12. Cynthia | November 7th, 2010 at 5:48 am
I love fresh fruit in baked desserts. It is always such a treat to visit.
13. Nargiz | November 8th, 2010 at 3:28 am
Dear Farida, I couldn’t wait, so baked it considering 1 oz= 30 grams
I had almond meal since Novrus holday, and didn’t know what to to with it 
To be honest I didn’t decorate it with pears, made a simple cake
Thanks…
~Nargiz
14. PINAR | November 8th, 2010 at 5:13 am
Mükemmel görünüyor, ellerine sa?l?k.
Sevgilerimle….
15. Jenn AKA The Leftover Queen | November 8th, 2010 at 11:57 am
You have such a knack for making dishes look so beautiful for the camera!
16. Alla | November 8th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Farida. Made the cake today. Came out delicious. Except didnt look like yours after baking, my pears seemed to sink in a bit and you could only a little circle od each pear top after baking. So moist and simple. Did you make your own almond meal? I couldnt find it at the store so I just put some almond slivers in a food processer, Do you think they were fine enough?
17. FARIDA | November 8th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
ALLA: Glad you made the cake. Yes, I made my own almond meal in a food processor. Nothing fancy. Pulsed until it was very fine. They are supposed to turn into flour. If that was the case with yours, then you are fine.
18. Cherine | November 9th, 2010 at 12:59 am
A wonderful cake!
19. Anu | November 10th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
This is just beautiful looking. I love anything chocolate of course and wish I had this in front of me now!
20. AZ Cookbook - Food From A&hellip | March 31st, 2011 at 6:59 pm
[...] day I decided that wanted to use a freshly made batch of curd cheese in a combination with chocolate or cocoa powder, for no obvious reason, other than I just thought it would just taste great. I did [...]
21. Jane | August 16th, 2011 at 12:03 am
I just made a half quantity in a loaf pan. Very nice! Thankyou.
22. Chocolate Cake Blog | January 2nd, 2013 at 10:21 pm
Looks great. I’m going to have to make this cake! Cheers
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