One of my favourite things to eat is poached pears, it s soo simple and just delish. The classic combo of pear and chocolate is a match made in heaven so I poured it into a cake.
TIP 1: buy pears that are still firm, makes it easier to each and keep their shape.
TIP 2: Prepare and weigh all the ingredients and read carefully the recipe before starting.
TIP 3: Use loose leaf and pronounced early grey tea, I love the Fortum and Mason one
STEP 1: Bring the water to the boil, crush the earl grey and cardamom pods and add to the water. Add the sugar and pears and reduce the heat to let simmer for 20 minutes.
The pears should be poached but not cooked all the way through nor too soft. Remove from the pot and let cool.
STEP 2: To make a bund cake in a round cake add a pipe or ring with aluminium foil in the middle. Grease the 25 cm round bake tine with butter and dust with a little flour.
STEP 3: In a large bowl beat with mixer with paddle attachment the butter and brown sugar together till light and combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beat until well combined. Add in half of the flour mixture and half of the cream mixture and mix together. Add the remainder until just combined.
STEP 6: Pour the batter in the cake tin, place the pears ( hold them up with toothpicks if needed).
STEP 8: In meanwhile, melt the chocolate over a Bain Marie ( a medium size pot with water simmering, topped with a. smaller pot) when the chocolate is melted, add the butter in cubes and whisk till smooth.
STEP 9: Once the cake is cooled and removed from the tin, pour the chocolate glaze over the top.
more TIPS:
- I used sour cream to keep the cake nice and moist.
- You can also add chunks of poached pear in the cake batter but ensure they are patted dry as not to make the batter too wet.
- Add more ground up spice and tea in the cake batter if you want the cake to have a more pronounced flavour.
My early grey and cardamom poached pear, double chocolate cake
Yield 25 cm cake tin
Ingredients
- for the pears
-
- 5 pears, peeled, keep stem on
- 2 l water
- 3 table spoon earl grey tea
- 10 cardamom pods
- 200 gr sugar
-
- for the cake
-
- 165 gr all purpose flour
- 200 gr brown sugar
- 125 gr butter
- 80 gr sour cream
- 50 gr cacao powder
- 160 ml milk
- 2 tablespoon earl grey tea
- 1 tea spoon ground cardamom
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 eggs
-
- for the chocolate glaze
-
- 160 gr dark chocolate
- 16 gr butter
-
Instructions
- Bring the water to the boil, crush the earl grey and cardamom pods and add to the water. Add the sugar and pears and reduce the heat to let simmer for 20 minutes. The pears should be poached but not cooked all the way through nor too soft. Remove from the pot and let cool.
- To make a bund cake in a round cake add a pipe or ring with aluminium foil in the middle. Grease the 25 cm round bake tine with butter and dust with a little flour.
- In a medium size bowl whisk together flour, cacao powder, tea, ground cardamom, baking soda and salt.
- In a small bowl combine the milk and sour cream.
- In a large bowl beat with mixer with paddle attachment the butter and brown sugar together till light and combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beat until well combined. Add in half of the flour mixture and half of the cream mixture and mix together. Add the remainder until just combined.
- Pour the batter in the cake tin, place the pears ( hold them up with toothpicks if needed).
- Bake in pre heated oven at 180C for about 50 minutes. Let sit on cooling rack for 30 minutes before removing tine.
- In meanwhile, melt the chocolate over a Bain Marie ( a medium size pot with water simmering, topped with a. smaller pot) when the chocolate is melted, add the butter in cubes and whisk till smooth.
- Once the cake is cooled and removed from the tin, pour the chocolate glaze over the top.
Notes
on www.leeksandhighheels.com by Sandra Slawinski
Written and photographed by Sandra Slawinski without commercial deals. I used my Le Creuset pots, vintage plates, Fortnum and Mason tea cup, week jars from Dille & Kamille.
