There is, I believe, no better time to be in the kitchen than now. The ingredients of the season – new hazelnuts and walnuts, locally grown pears, apples and pumpkins are calling to be stewed, preserved and baked. I like to bake towards the end of the week to then enjoy a sweet something at the weekend with my coffee.
Fruit in cakes will always be my preference, I’m not a chocolate cake lover however add a few chocolate chunks and nuts to a cake batter and I’m first to the table. This recipe is a firm family favourite. The hazelnuts add a wonderful flavour to this loaf. It’s important to use chocolate with a minimum of 54 percent coco solids. I also favour spelt flour, and often blend white with wholemeal in cakes.
This loaf is a good one, intense and not too sweet, it’s moist without being claggy. It also keeps well for several days, if it lasts that long.
Pear, Hazelnut & Chocolate Loaf
Ingredients
- 2 eggs large
- 180 g butter softened
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 25 g caster sugar
- 95 g hazelnuts skinned, save 15g to chop & sprinkle on top of the loaf
- 160 g white spelt flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3 small conference pears
- 55 g dark chocolate chopped, min. 54%
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 150Cfan. Line the base of a 900g loaf tin with parchment paper and gease the sides.
- Whisk the butter and sugar together until really light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk lightly with a fork. Add a tablespoon of egg at a time to the butter mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. It’s worth taking time with this as this will ensure a super light cake.
- Blitz the hazelnuts in a food processor, don’t over mix otherwise they will become claggy. Combine the flour and baking powder with the ground hazelnuts. Fold in 3 additions to the cake batter.
- Peel 2 pears, remove the core and chop into small pieces. Cut the third pear in half and slice finely into 5 length ways (this is for the top of the cake) peel the remainder and chop and add to the rest. Fold into the cake batter with the chocolate.
- Pour into the greased and lined loaf tin. Arrange the sliced pears on the top and sprinkle the remaining hazelnuts on the top.
- Bake for 70-90 minutes, or until when a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Tips:
- This will also fit into a 20cm cake tin.
Laminated Wild Mushroom Ravioli with Parmesan Sauce
What a great recipe!! And so seasonal – am already on my second slice!!
So glad to hear it!! It’s a winning combination I think.
Lovely cake, and so moist and moorish with the pears and the chocolate. This has already become one of our favourite cakes
That’s lovely to hear. So glad you like it!
Haha! I’ve just made this fabulous cake and seeing that my birthday is 6th October it has now become my birthday cake! As a novice baker I found it so helpful to learn the egg and flour adding no tips. Thank you and Happy New Year.
I’m so pleased to hear it Martin and thanks for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it :-))
Hi Louise!Your stories and recipes are so inspiring!I want to try this one. Can I replace the spelt flour with another one, and still keep the quality of the result?
best wishes,
Christine
Hi Christine, lovely to hear :-)) It very much depends on what flour you intend to replace it with?
What is the best substitute for white spelt flour?
Hi Chris, you can substitute with plain white four (all purpose flour).