Recipes · Cakes & pastries
Pear Cake with Chocolate
AI-written · not yet kitchen-tested
Pears release a lot of juice as they bake. Ripe but still firm fruit is ideal; very soft pears make the batter underneath wet. The chocolate pieces are tossed in a little flour so they stay in the batter instead of sinking to the bottom.
This recipe was written with AI assistance and has not yet been kitchen-tested. Check quantities and times as you cook, and follow safe core temperatures for meat, poultry, fish and eggs.
Ingredients
- 150 g (3/4 cup) butter softened
- 130 g (4.6 oz) granulated sugar
- 1 packet vanilla sugar about 8 g, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
- 3 eggs large, at room temperature
- 200 g (1 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
- 1.5 tsp baking powder level
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon ground
- 80 ml (2.7 fl oz) milk
- 100 g (3.5 oz) bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped, pieces about 1/4 inch
- 1 tbsp butter softened, for the pan
- 3 pears medium, ripe but firm, about 600 g / 1 1/3 lb in total
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar for sprinkling
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) conventional or 300 °F (155 °C) convection, with the rack in the middle. Line the bottom of a 9-inch (24 cm) springform pan with parchment paper and grease the sides with the butter for the pan. Chop the chocolate into pieces of about 1/4 inch (5 mm).
- Peel the pears, halve them and scoop out the cores with a teaspoon. Brush the halves with lemon juice. Score the rounded side every 1/4 inch (5 mm), about 1/8 inch (3 mm) deep.
- Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt with a hand mixer for 4 minutes until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds after each.
- Mix the flour, baking powder and cinnamon and set 1 tablespoon aside. Toss the chopped chocolate in it. Stir the remaining flour mixture into the batter, alternating with the milk, just until smooth, then fold in the chocolate.
- Fill the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Set the pear halves cut side down in a circle on the batter, one in the center, and press them in lightly. Sprinkle with the sugar.
- Bake for about 55 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted into the batter between the pears comes out clean. If the top gets too dark after 40 minutes, cover loosely with foil.
- Let the cake rest in the pan for 15 minutes, run a knife around the edge and cool it on a cooling rack for about 45 minutes. It tastes best lukewarm.
Tip: Insert the skewer into the batter between the pears, not into the fruit: something always sticks to a pear, even when the batter is long done.
Tip: Do not chop the chocolate too finely: fine splinters melt into the batter and turn it brown, while coarser pieces stay as chunks. Check the package for allergens.