Chocolate, Hazelnut & Pear Cake
Everything about this cake screams autumn. Baked by Sally Cleary at The Bungalow & Basket, the recipe is adapted from an old faithful by Donna Hay.
02 May 2023
Photography: Theresa Hall
We’re not here to give you a 1500 word preample on the origins of baking, pears or hazelnuts, just a straight-up indulgent recipe that’ll knock your woollen autumnal socks off.
Ingredients
1/3 cup (60g) brown sugar
5 pears (550g), halved
250g unsalted butter, chopped
1 cup (350ml) unsweetened almond milk 2 eggs
2/3 cup (160g) sour cream
1/4 cup (25g) cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 1/2 cups (330g) caster sugar
1 cup (100g) hazelnut meal
pouring cream, to serve
Steps
Preheat oven to 160C. Line a 22cm round springform tin with baking paper, leaving a 2cm above the rim.
Place 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar on a small plate. Dip the cut side of each pear in the brown sugar.
Place a large non-stick frying pan over high heat. Add the pear, sugar-side down, and cook for 5-6 minutes or until caramelised and golden. Arrange the pears, cut-side down, in the base of the tin.
Place 25g of the butter and the remaining 2 tablespoons of brown sugar in the pan and cook for 1 minute or until slightly thickened. Pour the buttery mixture over the pears.
Place the almond milk and remaining 22g butter in the pan and cook, stirring, until the butter is melted. Transfer to a large bowl and add the eggs, sour cream, flour, cocoa, bicarb, caster sugar and hazelnut meal. Whisk until combined and pour into the tin. Place on an oven tray and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes.
Remove the cake from the tin and place on a cake stand or plate. Serve with cream.
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