Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Poached Pears
Chestnut Chocolate Cake
Yeah, I made a chestnut chocolate cake. I have been experimenting with different flours. And in this process, I found that chestnut flour is the perfect base for a chocolate cake. It enhances the chocolate tones to create a deep rich flavor. Of course, I could not just leave it there. So, perked up in the middle of the cake you have vanilla poached pears standing proud. The pears will keep the cake moist on the inside and are a wonderful addition.
Diversify Your Flours
For previous recipes I have been relying too heavily on almond flour to do all the work. And I wanted to expand my repertoire of flours used for baking. The reason for that is twofold. First by using so much almond flour it is difficult to balance our omega-6 vs omega-3 intake. You can read all about it here. And secondly, previously I could get quite fine almond flour to use for baking. But since a few months now it’s been getting coarser to make way for the introduction of a ‘special’ fine almond flour. Which is double the price and half the amount of the normal packages. Quite annoying actually. This might not be new for other countries but is quite a recent development here in the Netherlands.
Tip!
Find a good but still relatively cheap dessert wine to use for the poaching the pears.
Poached Pears
I’m not necessarily a fan of pears. I don’t naturally gravitate towards it, there’s just something about the texture. But that’s the beauty of working with a seasonal fruit and veggie list. It pushes you to expand your boundaries and eat items you won’t normally. And even try out completely new things. In poaching pears, I discovered that once poached my issue with texture becomes moot. And it’s quite a wonderful addition to the chocolate cake. It would be a great addition to your holiday table as the pears are a little drunk surprise in the middle.
Holiday Table:
Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Poached Pears
Equipment
- 20 cm round baking tin
Ingredients
Poached Pears
- 3 pears
- 750 ml sweet white wine
- 1 vanilla pod
Chocolate Cake
- 1 cup chestnut flour
- 1 cup cacao powder
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 cup almond milk
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Optional
- xylitol powdered sugar
Instructions
Poached Pears
- Peel the pears leaving the stem and place in a narrow pot.
- Pour wine over it and make sure it can cover the pears, add the contents of the vanilla pod to it and cover with a lit.
- Turn the heating on and bring to a boil, lower to heat to continue simmering for 15 minutes or until soft.
- Allow the pears to cool down in the wine before adding to the cake to bake. About 1 hour.
Chestnut Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 165°C.
- Make sure to sift the chestnut flour and cacao powder. They tend to get lumps.
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk all wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.
- Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and whisk everything together in a smooth batter.
- Grease the baking tin with your fat of choice either coconut oil or butter will do and cover the bottom of the baking tin with parchment paper.
- Pour the batter in the tin and place the 3 pears standing upright in the tin. The cake will rise during the cooking process to cover the pears more.
- Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool down and sprinkle with xylitol powdered sugar.