This egg-free, dairy-free recipe caught my eye as I’ve always liked the combination of pears and chocolate. I didn’t have any fresh pears, but a tin of pears in the pantry from goodness knows when worked well.
If you’re not dairy intolerant you can of course use ordinary milk and yoghurt.
Served with a blob of cream (I prefer sour cream shown in the photo below the recipe) with a cup of coffee or as a dessert, this recipe is definitely a keeper. You could leave out the pears and add a few more nuts. Maybe try blueberries instead of pears? Let me know if you try something different.
Cake:
1½ cups plain flour, sifted
¾ cup raw sugar (see substitutes)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup almond or oat milk (see substitutes)
½ cup coconut yoghurt (see substitues)
½ cup warm strong coffee
¼ cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
2 tsp vanilla essence
Topping:
2 firm pears, peeled, cored and sliced into thick wedges (or one can pears, drained)
2 Tbs plain flour
1 Tbs raw sugar
100g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
100g walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 22cm round cake pan and line the bottom with baking paper. Place all ingredients for cake in food processor and mix well, stopping to scrape down the sides. Scrape into the cake pan and smooth the top.
Dry the pear slices on paper towel then mix with the 2 Tbs each of flour and 1 Tbs sugar. Arrange over the top of the cake, discarding any flour mixture left in the bowl. Sprinkle the chocolate and nuts over the top.
Bake for 45-55 minutes or until well-risen and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake mixture comes out clean. Cool for an hour then run a knife around the edges and remove from the tin. If liked top with a little icing sugar through a sieve.
Serve with sour cream, whipped cream or pouring cream.
Serves 12-16
Substitutes: you can use any kind of milk, any kind of plain thick yoghurt and any kind of sugar in this recipe.
