dessert:

pear, lime and chocolate cake

Published 31st May 2017

Pear, lime and chocolate, not your normal trio of flavours, but gee, do they work! This cake is SO easy, so tasty, gooey and makes a great afternoon tea, or would be even better as a dessert with a scoop of ice cream! The flavours are also enhanced the following day, so if you can restrain yourself, save some for the next day.

 
 
Pear,-Lime-and-Chocolate-Cake.jpg
 
 

The pine nuts are an unlikely inclusion, but only because I decided the cake needed some crunch and they were the only nuts I had at the time, and they actually work really, really well. When I was eating this the other day, I thought that next time I would add some ginger – either ~1/2-1 tsp of ground ginger or ~1tbs of finely chopped glace ginger, which I think would complement the pear, the lime and the chocolate really well, so consider that addition if ginger is your thing.

I have used wholemeal flour as I like to add some extra fibre to my cakes (when it works), but white flour will work just as well too.

If you have a food processor, and wish to give your arm a rest, place the first 6 ingredients into the food processor and blend until it all comes together. I do have one, but this time I just mixed everything together with a wooden spoon – yes, i ended up with a sore arm, but less dishes to do!

 
 

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup wholemeal plain flour

  • 1/2 cup castor sugar

  • 1 tsp baking powder

  • Pinch of salt

  • 120g butter, softened

  • 3 eggs

  • 100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

  • 1 pear, peeled and chopped

  • Finely grated zest of 1 lime

  • 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

  • 1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

  • 1 tbs shredded coconut for topping

 

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C and grease or line a small loaf tin.

  2. If you have a food processor, place butter, eggs, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into food processor and blend until it comes together. If you don’t have a food processor, place the ingredients into a medium sized bowl and mix together with wooden spoon.

  3. To toast pine nuts, heat a small frypan over medium heat and toast, stirring until brown.

  4. Add chocolate, pear, lime, nuts, seeds and mix to combine.

  5. Pour mixture into a loaf tin, sprinkle with coconut and cook for ~1 hour.

  6. Allow to cool slightly and serve warm or cold.