Chocolate cake with pears
Description
It pairs perfectly with tea and coffee. The base of the cake is pears in wine. However, it’s not necessary to make this cake with alcohol at all. For a non‑alcoholic version, use fruit juice or make a berry syrup. Serve warm or chilled. Perfect with tea.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
Cook a spiced syrup from water, sugar, wine, cranberries, and spices. While cooking, crush the cranberries with a puree masher.
- 2
Step 2
Peel the pears, leaving the stems untouched, and remove the blossom end from the bottom.
- 3
Step 3
Drop the pears into boiling syrup and simmer over low heat until partially cooked. The pears should become slightly softer, but still remain firm and hold their shape well. Let the pears cool in the syrup, then remove them onto a rack and lightly pat them dry.
- 4
Step 4
For the batter, beat softened butter with sugar—both white and brown—until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each. Finally, fold in the sour cream with a spatula.
- 5
Step 5
Sift the mixture of flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Quickly stir a light batter with a spatula.
- 6
Step 6
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place the pears vertically, pressing them into the batter.
- 7
Step 7
Bake in a preheated 180°C oven for about 40 minutes. A toothpick should come out of the batter dry. If the pear stems start to burn, cover the top of the cake with foil.
- 8
Step 8
Cool the finished cake on a rack and serve. You can serve the cake warm with a scoop of ice cream, or serve hot mulled wine made from the remaining syrup alongside the cake.