Bittersweet Chocolate & Pear Cake

I have some news. I am moving. To California. In 2 days. It's a long story (kind of), and I don't know if I want to share it here. But before I go, I have to share this one last recipe. It is a keeper. I make it over & over. Twice a week, sometimes. And it's simple. I had a hotel guest ask me for the recipe, and I quoted it to her without stuttering or stopping to think, "Wait, 1 cup or 1/2? Baking soda or powder?" Nope, it's just that good.

But how could it not be? With chunks of bittersweet chocolate (if that's too much for you, any other chocolate type will work) & pear nestled in a delicately crumbed cake that has the most amazing thin crust on top? Ah, I hear you naysayers out there. "Chocolate & pear?" you say skeptically, as if strawberries are the only fruit allowed to marry chocolate. It is simply delicious, and if your fruit prejudices are going to prohibit you from inhaling a slice of this wonder, you have no one to blame but yourself. Although, if you have any sort of diet ambitions, I suggest you troll to another blog, perhaps one about running marathons or baking with butter substitutes. As for the rest of you, prepare to be a pear + chocolate believer.

This is before you put it in the oven. I promise, the chocolate & pears really do end up inside the cake. Please do turn on the oven light and check it every 5 minutes to enjoy the chemical wonders of thoroughly beaten eggs & baking powder.

 A man of discerning taste. I did not use the spatula after.  

First ten minute check. See those edges starting to engulf the chocolate & pears? Lo, it is a glorious thing!

Bittersweet Chocolate & Pear Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, at room-temperature
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 pears, peeled, in a small dice (I used bosc & I know my photo has 3 pears in it, but the little guy ate the third one. Two were plenty.)
3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and dust with flour, set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the eggs on high speed until pale and very thick. (Smitten says it takes 9 minutes on a home kitchenaid. I watched my eggs like a hawk, and they took approximately 8 minutes & 38 seconds to reach optimum whippedness.)
While the eggs are whipping, brown the butter. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan (because it will foam a lot) and cook it until the butter browns and smells nutty (about 6 to 8 minutes). It helps to frequently scrape the solids off the bottom of the pan in the last couple minutes to ensure even browning. Remove from the flame but keep in a warm spot.
Add the sugar to the eggs and whip a few minutes more.
Just as the egg-sugar mixture is starting to loose volume, turn the mixture down to stir, and add the flour mixture and brown butter. Add one third of the flour mixture, then half of the butter, a third of the flour, the remaining butter, and the rest of flour. Whisk until just barely combined — no more than a minute from when the flour is first added — and then use a spatula to gently fold the batter until the ingredients are combined. It is very important not to over-whisk or fold the batter or it will lose volume.
Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle the pear and chocolate chunks over the top, and bake until the cake is golden brown and springs back to the touch, about 40 to 50 minutes [I baked mine for 50], or a tester comes out clean.
Serve it with barely whipped whipped cream with a drop of vanilla extract in it. Or plain with coffee. It makes a great breakfast.

And now that you have the only recipe that really matters, I'm going to say goodbye to the Hampsher. But do not be dismayed! for I have another blog being born to chronicle this new chapter in my life. Stay tuned for more thrilling adventures in the life of an absolutely ordinary girl.

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

 

These muffins sounded really good, so I made them even though I didn't have all the ingredients on hand (story of my life). I substituted, optimistically thinking they'd turn out anyway...

It wasn't that they didn't turn out, as you can see from the photos. They look like a perfectly normal muffin. But something was a little off inside. The texture of them was more like an old marshmallow than the tender-crumbed, yet hearty oaty muffin-ness I was imagining. I will make them again, this time with all the right ingredients and see. That said, they weren't a bad muffin anyway, so you should still make them. Especially if you have a half-can of pumpkin you need to use up pronto!

(But stay tuned: I've got a recipe for apple coconut muffins that did meet my oaty/tender expectations, even with substitution, coming up.)

 

Pumpkin Streusal Muffins

 

set your oven to 375, and grease a 12 muffin pan or use paper liners

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons molasses (I didn't have any, so I used table syrup:/ it would be a lot better with molasses, methinks)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour (I used only all-purpose because that's all I had. Perhaps this was the proverbial "missing ingredient" that ruined my muffins.)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Streusel Topping:

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tbsp rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons cold butter

Cream the sugar and the butter, and then beat in the eggs, pumpkin, buttermilk and molasses. In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Make the streusel topping in a third bowl, using a pastry blender to cut in the butter until the whole thing is thoroughly combined and crumbly.
When you're ready to bake, mix the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring just enough to combine. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full, and sprinkle the streusel topping liberally over the muffins.
Bake for about 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool for a few minutes in the pan before taking them out.