Classic pairings; two separate aspects that are great in their own individual right, but when they come together, it’s like, “whoa, amazing!” There are awesome duos everywhere: bacon and eggs, jeans and t-shirts, strawberries and cream, Beyonce and Jay-Z (hahaha).
One of my favourite pairings when it comes to sweets is definitely dark chocolate and pear. Bittersweet chocolate and sweet, delicate pear are amazing together. There’s the classic Poires Belle-Hélène with sugar-syrup poached pears served with vanilla ice cream and a yummy dark chocolate sauce and then there is the delicious chocolate and pear tart when they are encased in buttery shortcrust pastry – ooh yeah!
On this cold winter’s day I had some ripe Corella pears and dark chocolate to play with, but I really couldn’t be bothered with anything time consuming (I love to cook, but I am also a lazy cook) so I came up with these tasty little cakes to satisfy my chocolate and pear cravings. Not only are they delicious, they only took about 30 minutes from start to finish!
Little Dark Chocolate and Pear Cakes
200g dark chocolate
100g almond meal or almonds (or any nut, really)
125g butter, room temperature
125g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g plain flout
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 ripe pears, peeled and chopped
1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line with non-stick baking paper either a 22cm/10-inch cake tin or an 8 x small loaf tin tray.
2. In a food processor, blitz the chocolate and meal/nuts until coarse pebbly crumbs form.
3. In a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar together for a few minutes until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure the mixture is well combined after each egg. Throw in the vanilla extract at the end.
4. Stir through the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the pears.
5. Spoon the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes (if making little cakes) or 30 minutes (if making one big cake) or until the tops are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
6. Let them cool on a wire rack, but eat them warm with tea. It’s the only way to go :)
Makes about 12 little cakes or one big one.
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