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Pear, Hazelnut & Chocolate Loaf

3rd October 2020 By Louise 8 Comments

Pear, Hazelnut & Chocolate Loaf

Pear, Hazelnut & Chocolate Loaf

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
Print Recipe
5 from 2 votes

Pear, Hazelnut & Chocolate Loaf

Prep Time28 mins
Cook Time1 hr 20 mins
Total Time1 hr 48 mins
Servings: 8 people

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.

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Filed Under: Baking, Cakes, Desserts, Fika Tagged With: baking, cake, fika

Previous Post: « Laminated Wild Mushroom Ravioli with Parmesan Sauce
Next Post: Onion, Pearl Barley & Cider Soup »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. rhino75

    6th October 2020 at 5:12 pm

    What a great recipe!! And so seasonal – am already on my second slice!!

    Reply
    • Louise

      6th October 2020 at 5:14 pm

      So glad to hear it!! It’s a winning combination I think.

      Reply
  2. Eva Overend

    6th October 2020 at 5:21 pm

    5 stars
    Lovely cake, and so moist and moorish with the pears and the chocolate. This has already become one of our favourite cakes

    Reply
    • Louise

      6th October 2020 at 5:26 pm

      That’s lovely to hear. So glad you like it!

      Reply
  3. Martin Ryan

    10th January 2021 at 2:38 pm

    5 stars
    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.

    Reply
    • Louise

      10th January 2021 at 4:16 pm

      I’m so pleased to hear it Martin and thanks for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it :-))

      Reply
  4. Christine Robertson

    7th March 2021 at 8:07 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Louise

      7th March 2021 at 8:09 pm

      Hi Christine, lovely to hear :-)) It very much depends on what flour you intend to replace it with?

      Reply

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About Louise

Hej, I'm Louise, a food enthusiast living in Marlow, Bucks, UK. Welcome to my culinary adventures in my Nordic Kitchen. Read More

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Have a great weekend friends.

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Oven 180C fan.

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Place the salt, peppercorns, fennel seeds & sugar in a mortar. Wash the lemons then zest 1 1/2 and place in the mortar. Pound together so that everything is mixed well (if you do not have a mortar, you can mix in a small bowl). Spread the spice mixture over the salmon and rub it in thoroughly. Drizzle over oil. Slice the lemon in thick slices and place around the salmon. Leave out for 1 hour. 

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Chop the leaves of a bunch of parsley finely, then finely chop a small clove garlic and place in a bowl. Zest the remaining lemon half a add the lemon juice, 50ml EVOO, salt and pepper to the bowl of parsley. Mix together to a smooth sauce. You can also use a hand mixer.

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Glad Midsommar🇸🇪 I love where I live but Sw Glad Midsommar🇸🇪

I love where I live but Sweden is the place to be on Midsummer’s Eve. 

Always celebrated on the Friday (between 19-25 June and a National holiday)  A day filled with flower crowns (midsommarkransar), dancing, singing and a sun that never sets. 

And of course there’s plenty of food, cold beer and schnapps, preferably spiced. 
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