Chocolate and pears make an excellent combination. Here, bittersweet chocolate and sweet pears meld together to form the perfect balance. For this recipe, you can either take a rustic approach and toss the pears haphazardly into the pan or opt for a more elegant look by arranging the pears in concentric circles. Look for a good dark chocolate, which is not the same as unsweetened chocolate. Also, there are two kinds of unsweetened cocoa on the market; be sure to use unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa, not natural cocoa. When combined with baking soda, natural cocoa can impart a bitter taste to baked goods and cause them to rise too much.
Ingredients
Serves 12 to 15
Fruit Topping
Cake
Step 1
Butter a 9-inch round baking pan.
Step 2
To make the fruit topping, put the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan (one with a tight-fitting lid) and stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, then cover and cook for 2 minutes. (Covering in this way allows the steam to wash down the sides of pan, which will prevent any sugar crystals from forming.) Uncover the saucepan and continue to boil the sugar, gently and slowly swirling the pan as needed to cook the caramel evenly, until it becomes a dark amber color. Occasionally wash down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. Carefully pour the caramel into the prepared pan and allow it to harden. The pan will be very hot from the sugar, so take care in moving it if you need to. Fan the pear slices on top of the caramel in a circle around the perimeter, filling in the center with the remaining slices.
Step 3
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Step 4
To make the cake, place the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat and melt, stirring occasionally. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Transfer the melted chocolate to a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer and add the sugar. Using a handheld mixer with beaters or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the milk in two additions, beginning and ending with the flour and scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.
Step 5
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the middle of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the cake bounces back slightly when touched. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto a plate, leaving the pan on top of the cake for 5 minutes before you remove it. Serve the cake warm, topped with a small dollop of Chantilly cream or a scoop of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.
Step 6
Storage: Wrapped in plastic wrap, the cake will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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Reviews (37)
Back to TopMade this for the first time last night for New Year's Eve quarantine dessert and my family loved it. I followed the recipe exactly and it came out looking even better than the picture! (Except I did only use 2 pears based on the reviews below.) I found the caramel needed patience and a very close eye on it - it will go from perfect to burnt in a second. But it does work without any butter or modifications! I used the pastry brush method dipped in cold water to wipe down sides of the pot and I got no sugar crystals. Will definitely make again. Wish I could attach a picture!
5647
CT
1/1/2021
This is ridiculously delicious. It's close to Chocolate Decadence, then the cool sweetness and juiciness of the pears takes it over the top. I did make some crucial changes, per several reviews. I too wondered how does water + sugar = caramel, and instead went with a dark sugar & butter caramel recipe. I let this set for 30 minutes, till mostly firm, before tossing on about 5 medium pears, which was a good amount. The batter for this cake is amazing. You can tell it's going to be dense yet fluffy. I also used a 1/2 cup of sugar for the cake instead of 3/4 cup, and I used bittersweet chocolate. It came out SO yummy, fairly dense and so chocolatey! Lovely by itself, but a little dollop of whipped cream = heaven!
louise65
Ellensburg, WA
11/5/2020
The caramel recipe is not good. It would be better if you used a caramel recipe that added 3/4 cup of heavy cream, 2 Tbs. of butter, cut into small pieces, and 1 tsp. vanilla extract and made it into a caramel sauce. Because I ended up with pears in watery, sugary sweet, caramel water. I also could have cut the amount of caramel. I cut the amount of sugar in the cake to 1/4 cup per the other reviews. I am glad I did, given how sweet the caramel pear part was.
dnals
palo alto, ca
8/30/2015
Completely unexciting and surprisingly not very pretty. Only change I made was to use a 10 inch pan instead of a 9 inch, since there were so many complaints about the pears not fitting. I still had an entire pear left over. Caramel soaked in enough to make a soggy chocolate cake but too much to see any caramelized goodness - just looked like a soggy chocolate cake with some soggy pears on top. Taste was fine, but not good enough for all the effort of making the caramel and peeling and slicing all those pears. We had a huge crowd for Thanksgiving with a bunch of desserts - only a quarter of this cake got eaten - just doesn't look appealing. Will not make again.
nyorinks
Moscow, Idaho
11/29/2013
The cake itself was delicious -- I would make it again without the pear topping. Despite incorporating the guidance of other reviewers, and the fact that everything seemed to go as described, the caramel tasted burnt and had almost no sweetness. Probably user error, but I was pretty diligent. If I try the topping again, I'll look for a different caramel recipe.
trcarlson
Columbia, MD
11/22/2012
Absolutely best chocolate cake I have ever had. I liked that it was not overly sweet like a lot of chocolate cakes can be. I will be making this again!
F9foodie
Decatur, IN
1/18/2012
This recipe is delicious. The only change I made is how to make the fruit topping. I found the "wet" method difficult and I had to toss the first batch. Instead, melt a cup of sugar in a small frying pan over medium heat. The sugar will melt first on the ends, so simply use a heat proof spatula to mix the sugar. Once it is completely melted pour it into the cake pan. Easy.
MargaretR1
Vail, CO
12/30/2011
really good! the chocolate cake is excellent, and the pears go beautifully sweet and translucent.
awhiskandaspoon
Brooklyn, NY
11/6/2011
简单而美味的…但绝对不是素食主义者...IT HAS BUTTER, MILK AND EGGS..AND A SUGGESTION TO SERVE WITH ICE CREAM...THESE ARE NOT ON A VEGETARIAN DIET. I first thought to make this for my VEGETARIAN children...but read the ingredients and made it for some friends who happened to stop by for dinner.
Anonymous
Lenox MA
10/16/2011
Sadly Epicurious miss printed this recipe by forgetting to put the water quantity in the ingredient list; it is 1/4 cup.
Anonymous
Vermont
3/31/2011
This is just about the most fantastic chocolate cake I have ever tasted. Made it according to recipe, but took others suggestions to cut pears a little thicker to use most of 3 pears.
JeriRecipes
SC
3/1/2011
amazing and unique cake! i pretty much followed the recipe. the caramel making was a little confusing but everything turned out great and the cake was super moist, rich and delicious. i served with fresh whipped cream.
ssuchdev
brooklyn, ny
12/13/2010
made this almost as written. I cheated on the caramel and just used caramel cubes with a little butter. Melted them in the pan then poured pears on top of hot caramel a few minutes while I finished cake recipe. I also reduced (per comment) sugar to 1/2 c. in cake recipe and the cake was so perfect in taste, rich but not too sweet or overly rich. Great chocolate cake and so good with the pears, just the right addition to it.
sabinanm
Virginia
10/29/2010
Absolutely incredible! Will make again. I reduced the sugar to 1/3 cup and used Dutch processed cocoa with cayenne pepper. Yummy spice with dark chocolate!!
b3cca
Wayzata, MN
8/10/2010
I liked the taste but I made a few changes in addition to adding buttermilk. I made the caramel by dissolving spots of sugar in a pan, then stirred in a few Tbsp butter. The pears were then laid on top and cooked for a few minutes to reduce the liquid.
alturnbu
Calgary, AB
2/22/2010
