Chocolate cake with poached pears, cookies and cream fondue

I’ve been wanting to make a cake with entire pears inside. I saw a few recipes on Pinterest and found them interesting. However, the challenge was to make it yummy while still being pretty. Voilà! Mission accomplished.
When served with the white chocolate cookies and cream fondue, I swear it’s the end of the world (or the beginning of it, I’m not sure!) I know that we would usually add the fondue atop the the dessert, but I like to make a kind of soup, then top it with the cake instead. It’s a lot prettier this way and it won’t hide the GORGEOUS pears.
Particularities
- Serves8
- Prep time30 mins
- Cook time35 mins
- Timeoutapprox. 30 minutes
- FreezingFreezes well
Ingredients
- 1 can (215 g) of Chocolats Favoris Cookies and Cream fondue
Poached pears
- 4 cups of water (or more)
- 2 tablespoons of honey
- 4 to 5 Rocha pears, peeled and cored (using a melon baller) (or any other type of pear)
Replacement optionspears of your choice
Cake
- 1/4 cup of cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup of hot water
- 1 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
- 3/4 cup of semi-salted butter (room temperature)
- 1 cup of sifted brown sugar (or sugar)
Replacement optionssugar
- 2 eggs
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and place the rack in the middle. Line a loaf pan (9 in. x 5 in.) with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a small pot, add all the ingredients for the poached pears and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool completely. Set aside.
- In a bowl, add the cocoa powder and gradually add the water, whisking constantly to obtain a creamy texture. Set aside.
- In another bowl, add the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
- Using a standing mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar at high speed for 5 minutes (or until the mixture is white and creamy). Add the eggs, one by one. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl. Beat until you get a light and fluffy mixture.
- At low speed, alternately add the chocolate mixture and the dry ingredients.
- Pour into the loaf pan and stick the entire poached pears in the mix. Make sure the top of the pear and stem stick out from the mix.
- Bake for 35 minutes. Let cool before you remove the cake from the pan.
- Serve with Chocolats Favoris’ Cookies and Cream fondue.
Tips & tricks
To core a pear, you can also cut it in two, lengthwise, and use a melon baller to core it properly. Then, simply stick the two halves together before putting them in the cake mixture.
Recipe published on August 19, 2018