Pear and Chocolate Cake with Mulled Wine Flavour Pearls

This delicious recipe for Pear and Chocolate Cake is a match made in heaven with our Limited Edition Mulled Wine Flavour Pearls. A large dollop of double Cream on the side is a must too! A great looking cake which can easily be sliced and served at the table. 

What you’ll need

• 3 Pears – we used Beurre Bosc 
• 750 – 1000 ml Water (you need enough to cover the Pears completely)
• 250g Sugar
• Flavourings – Bay Leaf (fresh if you can get it), Cinnamon Stick, Zest strip/peel of Lemon

• 175g Butter (soft)
• 175g Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 90g Almond Meal
• 140g SR Flour (or just add baking powder to plain flour)
• 4 Tbsp. Cocoa Powder
• 1 Tsp Baking Powder
• 100ml Milk

• Icing Sugar (to dust)
• Double Cream
• Mulled Wine Flavour Pearls

To do

Let’s get the Pears ready first. You can do this a few days in advance if you want to get ahead and just bake either the night before or morning of your occasion. 

Put the water, flavourings and sugar into a pot large enough to hold the Pears. Bring it to the boil then turn right down (the sugar should be dissolved) Have a bit of a taste. You can add more sugar if you like. Using a vegetable peeler just peel the skin off the Pears and add them to the pot. I like to place a piece of baking paper on top (also known as a cartouche) to help keep the Pears submerged. Cook gently until the Pears are soft (around 20 minutes). 

You can leave them to cool in the poaching liquid if you plan to bake later on. If you’re baking now just remove them from the syrup to cool on a plate until required.

Next

Pop your oven on to 160c.

Grease and line a loaf tin with baking paper.

Cream the soft Butter and Sugar together until light and fluffy with an electric mixer. Add the Eggs one at a time. Add Almond Meal then sifted dry ingredients and lastly the Milk to loosen up the mix. 

Spread 2/3 of the mix in the tin. Add the well drained Pears, pressing them down a little. Add the remaining mix. Bake until a skewer inserted in a cake batter patch comes out clean. Around 40 minutes. Allow to cool completely in the tin. 

*I baked in the evening for the next day and just draped a clean tea towel over the warm cake so it cooled overnight on the bench*

To serve

We simply dusted our whole cake with Icing Sugar then popped it onto a nice platter. You can have this done well before everyone arrives. 

Using a sharp knife (a serrated knife is good to cut cake) carefully slice the required pieces. Adding a generous dollop of Double Cream and spoonful of Mulled Wine Flavour Pearls to each plate too. (I’ve made this cake twice in as many weeks…yes it’s that lovely)

Enjoy

Until next time

From the Peninsula Larder Team

“The more you weigh, the harder you are to kidnap. Stay safe. Eat cake.”