Italian Pear & Chocolate Breakfast Cake
Adapted from the Hotel Ai Lumi, sent in by reader Robbie
Serves 6-8
Preparation time:
Cooking time:
- 100ml/3.5fl ozs. flavourless oil
- 150g/5.3ozs, caster sugar
- 2 eggs (I used duck eggs), at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 250g/8.83ozs.cake flour*
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 75ml/2.65ozs. milk
- 5 pears (I used beurre bosc pears), peeled, halved and cored, two of them chopped up into small pieces, the other three intact but cored
- 125g/4.41ozs. chocolate chips
*To make 250g/4.41ozs cake flour, place four tablespoons of cornflour/cornstarch in a bowl and add plain all purpose flour to reach a 250g/4.41ozs weight.
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease and line the base and sides of a 23cm/9.2inch springform tin. Using an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment whisk the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla until double or triple in volume. Sift in half of the flour and baking powder and add half the milk and fold. Sift in the remaining flour and milk and then the pears and chocolate chips. Scoop into the prepared tin.
Step 2 - With a knife score the pears using a sharp knife making sure not to cut all the way through. Place these on top of the cake and gently submerge them a little (see picture). Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted comes out clean (mine took 1 hour and 20 minutes). Serve with icing sugar and cream for any occasion.