Chocolate, almond, pear cake for Pesach

If your pears are too firm, all is not lost. Just peel, halve and core them first and poach gently in water squeezed with a little lemon juice until tender. Then drain and pat dry before using in the cake.

The cake is going to be added to my Pesach repertoire. It's quick, easy and a crowd pleaser.  

To make this cake you will need:

Ingredients:  
85g butter (or margarine), plus extra for greasing
85g dark chocolate
85g caster sugar
3 large eggs, separated
pinch of salt
85g ground almonds
3 - 4 very ripe pears, peeled halved and cored
icing sugar for dusting

Method: 

• Grease and line a 20cm spring form tin and heat your oven to 180°C.
• Melt the butter and chocolate together. I use my microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring gently with a spatula in between heating bursts.
• Whisk the egg yolks and the sugar with electric beaters in a medium-sized bowl until the mixture is thick and pale. This should take a few minutes.
• In a clean bowl with clean whisk or beaters, whip the egg whites with the salt until they form soft peaks.
• Mix the egg yolk mixture with the cooled, melted chocolate and the almonds.Add a third of the egg whites to loosen the mixture, then gently fold in the rest of the whites. Keep as much air in as possible. 
• Pour into the tin and arrange the pear halves on top - cut side facing down. 
• Bake for 35 minutes - until the pears are soft and the cake feels reasonably firm. if you pierced the cake with a skewer it should come out clean.
• Allow the cake to cool for five minutes in the tin. Remove it and leave the cake to cool on a wire rack. 
• I prettied up the pears by brushing them and the cake with a tablespoonful of ginger preserve warmed gently with a teaspoon of water. Before serving I dusted it with icing sugar.