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Plumcake with pears and chocolate

17/11/2023

The plumcake with pears and chocolate is a delectable dessert that combines the soft sweetness of pears with the richness of chocolate. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

  • 3 ripe but still firm pears
  • 200 g of all-purpose flour
  • 50 g of cocoa powder
  • 180 g of granulated sugar
  • 100 g of soft butter
  • 3 large eggs
  • 100 ml of milk
  • 1 packet of baking powder
  • 100 g of dark chocolate
  • A pinch of salt
  • Icing sugar (for decorating, optional)

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C and butter and flour a plumcake tin.
  2. In a bowl, sift the flour together with the cocoa powder and baking powder.
  3. In another bowl, cream the soft butter with the granulated sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, continuing to beat until the mixture becomes homogeneous and frothy.
  4. To the egg and butter mixture, alternately add the mixture of flour, cocoa, and baking powder with the milk. Mix with a wooden spoon or spatula to avoid deflating the mixture.
  5. Peel the pears, remove the core, and cut them into cubes. Roughly chop the dark chocolate.
  6. Gently fold the pear cubes and dark chocolate chunks into the batter, mixing gently to distribute them evenly.
  7. Pour the batter into the plumcake tin and level it with a spatula.
  8. Bake for about 40-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the plumcake comes out clean.
  9. Allow the plumcake to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then invert it onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
  10. If desired, before serving, sprinkle the surface of the plumcake with icing sugar.

Interesting Facts

The term “plumcake” is actually a false friend for Italians: while in Italy it refers to a cake similar to our cake or ciambella, in England the “plum cake” is typically a Christmas treat full of dried and candied fruit, much like our panettone or fruttone. Our “plumcake” would be more correctly called “pound cake”, for the technique of measuring ingredient quantities, or “loaf cake” for the shape of the elongated tin.

I wish you a very good preparation and enjoyment of this delicious sweet!

Plumcake with pears and chocolate