Chocolate Spiced Pear Cake

15 January 2020

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This chocolate spiced pear cake is a real winner, light, moist and chocolaty. Full of autumn flavours, the pears are infused in a poaching liquid of vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, turmeric and whisky.

It is not necessary to poach the pears if you really don’t want to make the extra effort, but I find the flavours comforting. They remind me of winter, sitting by the fire with a hot toddy. And this poaching liquid is a little different as it includes the addition of a few extra ingredients, not normally found in hot toddy but they compliment the pears really well.

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and the other readers. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram. I love seeing what you come up with! 🙂

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INGREDIENTS

For this recipe, which also includes a chocolate sauce you will need these ingredients:

Pears
Whisky
Cinnamon stick
Cloves
Ground ginger
Ground turmeric
Brown sugar
Plain or all-purpose flour (BL55)
Cocoa powder
Baking soda
Baking powder
Neutral-tasting oil (vegetable or sunflower)
Caster sugar or granulated white sugar
Pure vanilla extract or paste
Egg
Milk
Cream

– Vanilla recommendations: pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste or vanilla pods.

TIP: I highly recommend adding a good pinch of salt to your cakes. It might seem a bit weird, but it actually has the incredible ability to enhance sweetness, suppress bitterness, and elevate the flavour of all the ingredients, making your cake taste even better. It’s pretty crazy, the sodium in the salt sends signals to move glucose into your tongue’s sweet taste receptors, making the sweetness really pop. So, don’t be afraid to sprinkle a little salt – it’ll take your cakes to the next level!
I recommend Maldon Sea salt flake s or Cornish sea salt for baking.

EQUIPMENT SUGGESTIONS

Milk Saucepan, 1 Litre With Double Sided Pouring Lips

This small pan is a great size for boiling small amounts of liquids and it has pouring lips built into the rim of the saucepan which makes it easy to use.

I like this size of pan for making jams etc..

Loaf Pan 2lb, Professional Gauge Carbon Steel with Eclipse Non-Stick Coating, 24.6cm x 14.5cm x 6.95cm high

Perfect for banana bread, lemon drizzle, pound cake and traditional loaves.

The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.

NUTRITION

Serving: one cake slice

Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, or the source of nutrition data.

I strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy.

I encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

STORAGE AND FREEZING

This cake is best eaten on the day but also keeps well for up to 5 days.

Freezing: Wrap this cake well with cling wrap or put it in a freezer box and it will keep for 2-3 months.

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Chocolate Spiced Pear Cake

Preparation:40

Baking:1

Total:1 40

Servings: 10 slices

Tools you’ll need:

900g 2lb loaf pan

This chocolate spiced pear cake is a real winner for those autumn days, Whisky infused pears in a light, moist chocolaty sponge.

Print Pin

INGREDIENTS LIST

Poached pears

3 whole pears
25 ml whisky
1 stick cinnamon
5 whole cloves
½ tsp ground ginger
1 whole vanilla pod (optional)
200 g light brown sugar
½ tsp ground turmeric
800 ml water

Cake

120 g plain flour (all-purpose)
45 g unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda / baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
60 ml neutral-tasting oil (coconut, vegetable or sunflower oil)
120 g caster sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 medium egg (50g total)
130 ml milk
130 ml boiling water

Chocolate sauce

300 ml pear poaching liquid
100 ml single cream
40 g unsweetened cocoa powder

Preparation

Poaching pears: Peel the pears, leaving the stalk intact.
Combine all the ingredients into a small saucepan, the water should be enough to cover the pears, bring to a simmer.
Gently poach the pears for about 15 minutes.
Remove the pears and the spices with a slotted spoon.
Chocolate cake mix: Preheat the oven to 160°C fan / 350°F / Gas 4
Line a 900g (2lb) loaf pan with baking/parchment paper.
Place all of the cake ingredients, except the boiling water, into a large mixing bowl. Using a spoon, or electric whisk, beat the mixture until smooth.
Add the boiling water to the mixture, a little at a time, until smooth. (The cake mixture will now be very liquid.)
The pears should now be cool enough to place into the loaf tin, if they don’t stand easily, you can cut the bottoms straight to help them. Pour the batter in and around the pears.
Baking: Place on the middle shelf in the oven for 45–50 minutes, or until the top is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Chocolate sauce: Whilst the cake is baking prepare the chocolate sauce by reducing the pear poaching liquid down to about 300ml, then add the cream and cocoa powder to make a rich chocolate pear sauce.