2018-11-01_The_Simple_Things

LIVING (^) | STAPLE FOODS
A bit of a showstopper, this is a cake
for impressing people, but apart
from a bit of pear peeling, it is as
easy to pull off as any other cake.
Try to cut the slices through the
sides of the pears to maximise the
dramatic colour contrast and
appreciative gasps.
200g dark chocolate (70%
cocoa solids)
5 pears (round and squat ones
such as Williams Bon Chrétien)
Juice of ½ lemon
150g salted butter, softened
150g soft brown sugar
3 eggs
75g rye flour (or mix of rye and spelt)
75g white self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
YOU WILL NEED
A loose-bottomed 20cm cake tin
1 Preheat oven to 190C/Fan 170C/
Gas 5. Set a bowl over a saucepan of
simmering water and break 100g of
the chocolate into it, and leav
to melt. Remove from the he
once it has melted but leave
bowl over the pan.
2 Peel the skin from the pe
coating each finished one
juice as you go, to prevent br
Keep the stalks in place and slice a
small section away from thebottom
of each pear so that it sits flat on the
bottom of the cake tin. Butter a cake
tin and line it with baking parchment
and place the pears into it.
3 Cream together the butter and
sugar, then beat in the eggs, one at
a time, making sure each is well
combined before adding the next.
4 Add the flour, baking powder,
a pinch of salt and the melted
chocolate, and stir well until
everything is combined. Spoon the
mixture in around the pears and
smooth the top out as well as you can.
Break up the remaining 100g
chocolate and push it into the batter.
5 Baking time does depend on the
juiciness of the fruit, so be prepared
to test and return to the oven if it
is not ready. As a guide, bake for
between 40–50 mins or until a
skewer pushed into the centre of
the cake comes out clean.
Dark chocolate
& pear cake
TOMORROW
Use a rounded pear
variety, like Williams
Bon Chrétien, so
that your fruits don ’ t
tower over the cake
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