Pear, Hazelnut and White Chocolate Cake

Moist and tasty with scrummy chocolate pieces. Is it a cake or is it a pudding? Could be either, equally lovely.

Makes: 10 – 12 slices

Time: 1hr 40 + cooling

Level: Easy

Equipment: A 23cm (9”) round, loose bottomed cake tin

Ingredients

For the cake

125g/4.5oz blanched hazelnuts
175g/6oz self-raising flour
225g/8oz unsalted butter, in small cubes
175g/6oz golden caster sugar
2 – 3 large eggs, beaten
5 – 6 pears
100g/3.5oz white chocolate, chopped or use chips
2 – 3 Tbsp apricot jam or apricot glaze
30g/1oz hazelnut halves (optional decoration)

For the filling

60g/2oz unsalted butter, softened
60g/2oz full fat soft cheese
225g/8oz – 275g/9.5oz icing sugar (depending how sweet/thick you want it.)
1 pear (peeled, cored and mashed)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C / 140C fan / 325F / Gas 3. Butter and line the base of the tin and dust lightly with flour.

2. Grind the hazelnuts in a food processor until quite fine. (Take care not to overgrind or they will become a paste)

3. Sift the flour into the food processor with the ground nuts then pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and pulse some more until it forms a crumb like mixture. Add in the sugar and eggs and mix briefly.

4. Peel and core two pears and chop them then stir them into the mixture with the chopped chocolate.

5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top. Peel, core and slice the remaining pears (except the one reserved for the filling). Either scatter them randomly on top or create a pattern of your choice. Press them down lightly into the mixture.

6. Bake for 60 – 70 minutes, until firm and pulling away from the side of the tin, or test by inserting a skewer. If it comes out clean then the cake should be ready. After 50 minutes, open the oven carefully and, if necessary, cover with foil to avoid the top darkening too much.

7. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully.

8. While it’s cooling, make the buttercream filling. Beat the butter/cream cheese mixture until light and fluffy. then sift in the icing sugar. Mix slowly at first then beat more vigorously. Peel, core and chop the pear then mash it to a pulp. Stir into the mixture. Put the mixture in the fridge to thicken while the cake continues to cool.

9. Once the cake has fully cooled slice it in half horizontally then use the filling to combine the two halves. Warm the apricot jam and spoon or brush it over the top of the cake and add the hazelnut halves, if using.

I hope you enjoy this lovely cake. If you want more cake recipes click this link, or have a look at my site for lots of other great recipes, both sweet and savoury.

Below are a few that I’d love you to try: