Pear And Chocolate Sponge Food

SQUIDGY CHOCOLATE PEAR PUDDING

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Lightly grease a roughly 20 x 30cm shallow ovenproof dish. Put the butter in a large saucepan and place over a low heat until just melted. Remove the butter from the heat and stir in the sugar until well combined.
• Whisk the eggs together in a large bowl. Gradually add the eggs to the butter and sugar, beating well with a wooden spoon in between each addition. Sift the flour and cocoa powder on top of the egg mixture, then beat hard with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined.
• Pour into the prepared tin or dish and nestle the pears into the chocolate batter. Put the chocolate on a board and cut into chunky pieces roughly 1.5cm with a large knife. Scatter the chocolate pieces over the batter and sprinkle with almonds, if you like. Can be frozen at this stage.
• Bake in the centre of the oven for 30 mins or until the mixture is crusty on the surface and lightly cooked inside. Do not allow to overcook, as the cake will become spongy rather than gooey in the centre. Serve warm with cream or ice cream

CHOCOLATE & PEAR CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter and line the base and sides of a deep, 20cm loose-bottomed round cake tin. Mix the sugar, flours, ground almonds, baking powder and spices in a big bowl. Mix together the chopped nuts. Set aside 2 heaped tbsp of them for decoration and stir the rest into the dry ingredients with the chopped chocolate or chips. Whisk together the melted butter, eggs and almond extract.
• Tip the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly to combine, then fold in the diced pear. Scrape the mixture into the tin and bake for 45 mins, then cover with foil and bake for 20 mins more until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool in the tin overnight.
• For the icing, put the soured cream and chocolate chunks in a small pan. Heat very gently, stirring, until melted. Chill until spreadable (overnight is fine).
• Remove the cake from the tin, spread over the icing and scatter with the reserved nuts.

CHOCOLATE PEAR PUDDING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and grease an 8 1/2-inch square ovenproof dish with butter.
• Drain the pears and arrange them on the base of the prepared dish. Put all the remaining ingredients in a processor and blitz until you have a batter with a soft dropping consistency.
• Spread the brown batter over the pears, and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Let stand for 5 or 10 minutes and then cut into slabs - I cut 2 down and 2 across to make nine slices - and serve with chocolate sauce.

PEAR AND CHOCOLATE JAM

Steps:

• Put a small plate in the freezer for later use.
• Peel and core pears. Dice them or use a food processor.
• Mix the pears and lemon juice in a large sauce pan.
• Add sugar and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
• Chop chocolate and put aside.
• Once you hit 20 minutes, take the plate out of the freezer and put a small amount of jam on it to test for gelling. Wait for a few seconds and then see if jam runs. If it does and you want a thick jam, cook for a few more minutes and repeat process.
• Stir chocolate into jam, stir and wait for a simmer. Turn off heat.
• Package jam in freezer dishes or can for 12 minutes.

CHOCOLATE PEAR CAKE

Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 F (180 C). Grease and flour a 9 inch cake pan.
• In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• In a small bowl mix together the yogurt and milk until combined, set aside.
• Peel, core and slice the pears.
• In a large bowl beat on medium speed the eggs, vanilla and sugar until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Then slowly add the vegetable oil and beat to combine.
• Alternately add the dry ingredients with the yogurt mixture. Beat to combine, approximately one minute.
• Pour into the prepared pan, top with pear slices (sliced side down). Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool then dust with powdered / icing sugar before serving. Enjoy!

PEAR AND CHOCOLATE SPONGE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and line two 8 inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, cream together 3/4 cup butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Sift the flour into the bowl, and fold it in with a spoon. Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared pans.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the center of the cakes spring back when lightly touched.
• To make the frosting, mix together the confectioners' sugar and 1 cup butter until light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Mix the cocoa powder with just enough boiling water to dissolve, and blend it into the sugar mixture along with the vanilla.
• To assemble: Split each cake layer into halves horizontally and lay the halves out side by side. Use half of the buttercream, and spread it over 3 of the layers. Sandwich them together with the unfrosted one on the top. Place the cake on a serving plate, and frost the sides and top with the remaining frosting. Press chopped nuts onto the sides of the cake. Arrange pear halves on the top, and decorate with swirls of buttercream and walnut halves.