Pears, two ways



Ladies and gentlemen, I am now the proud owner of a KitchenAid stand mixer. And not just any stand mixer; a professional-grade beauty with a 4 quart stainless steel bowl, 4 paddle attachments and a sexy, fire-engine red body. Definitely up there with the best birthday presents I have ever received.

So, it was only fitting that I bake something special, an inaugural dessert to break in the mixer and make use of its endless fabulous features. I searched through my cookbooks for an appropriately delicious recipe, but it was M who had the winning suggestion: a chocolate and pear cake, which we first made eons ago by hand in my tiny Montreal kitchen. We prepared the cake together on Friday night, and used the extra pears on a homemade pizza, along with baby spinach, prosciutto and feta. The cake came out extraordinarily well, the dough barely sweet and bursting with melting chocolate chunks and soft, sweet Anjou pears. Paired with partridgeberry and apple wine from my recent trip to Newfoundland and a good movie (*coughStevenSegalcough*) it was a lovely, and decadent, way to start the weekend.

*Note: this cake was a wholly collaborative creative, made possible by the invaluable help of M, chocolate and pear-chopper extraordinaire.*

Chocolate and pear cake
Adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients
-       1 cup all-purpose flour
-       1 tbsp baking powder
-       ¼ tsp salt
-       3 eggs, room temperature
-       ¾ cup sugar
-       ½ cup (4 oz) unsalted butter
-       3 pears, peeled in a small dice (Anjou, Bosc or any other soft-ish variety)
-       ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chunks

1.     Preheat oven to 350F and grease and flour a 9” square pan; set aside.

2.     Using a stand mixer with a whip attachment (!!!) or a hand mixer with the same, beat eggs on high until they are pale and very thick (about 5 min with a stand mixer or up to 10 min with a hand mixer).

3.     While the eggs are beating, brown the butter by placing it in a medium saucepan and melting it on medium heat. Cook the butter until it is lightly brown and smells nutty (about 6-8 minutes), scraping the bottom frequently to ensure even browning. Remove from heat and set aside, keeping warm.

4.     When the eggs are sufficiently thick, add sugar and whip for a couple more minutes.

5.     Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.

6.     Just as the egg and sugar mixture is beginning to lose volume, turn down the mixer to stir, and add flour mixture and butter. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, ½ the butter, then another 1/3 flour, the remainder of the butter and finally the remained of the flour. Stir after each addition until flour and butter are just incorporated, about a minute or so; do not over-mix or the batter will lose its volume.


7.     Pour batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle chocolate and pear evenly onto the top; bake for about 40-50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and springs back at the touch, and tester comes out clean. Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.

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