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chocolate pear cake on a cake stand
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Flourless Chocolate Pear Cake

With pears abundant in UK in the Autumn months, this flourless chocolate pear cake is a great way to use up a glut of fruit whilst creating a dessert that can take you from afternoon tea to dinner party dessert.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Cake, Dessert
Cuisine: American, British, European, French
Keyword: Cake, Chocolate, gluten-free, pear
Servings: 8
Calories: 345kcal

Equipment

  • 25cm/10in loose bottom cake tin

Ingredients

  • 85 g caster sugar
  • 85 g butter
  • 85 g dark chocolate min 70% cocoa
  • 1 tbsp brandy optional
  • 3 eggs separated
  • 85 g ground almonds
  • 4 ripe pears peeled, halved and cored 3 if they are large
  • 2 tsp icing sugar to serve
  • 8 tbsp creme fraiche to serve (optional)
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Heat the oven to 180 °C
  • Grease and line the base of your loose bottomed cake tin and sprinkle in 1tbsp of the caster sugar.
  • In a saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter together. Stir in the brandy if using and set aside to cool slightly.
  • Prepare the pears by peeling them, cut them into half or quarters (depending on the size) and remove the core.
  • In a free-standing mixer, or with a hand whisk, whisk the egg yolks together with the remaining sugar until pale and thick. When you lift your whisk the beater should leave a trail for a second or two. Fold in the chocolate mixture and the ground almonds.
  • Using a clean whisk, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Add in a couple of large spoons of the whisked egg white mixture into the main bowl and stir. Then gently fold in the remaining whisked whites, trying to maintain as much air as possible.
  • Pour the cake mix into the tin. Arrange the pears on top with the cut side down.
  • Bake in the pre-heated oven for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before removing from the tin. Serve dusted with some icing sugar and a spoon of creme fraiche on the side if you like. Another suggestion would be to gently warm the cake and add a scoop of good vanilla ice-cream.

Notes

  • Instead of ground almonds you can also use ground hazelnuts which would go well.

Nutrition

Calories: 345kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 92mg | Sodium: 99mg | Potassium: 220mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 456IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 2mg