Pear, chocolate and walnut cake. #Goodfood

Pear, chocolate and walnut cake…adulterated from Good Food.

This cake has three things I love: Nuts, chocolate and pears! Oh , and butter.
The recipe calls for hazelnuts but I used walnuts.
There is another fabulous ingredient I added: Lindt dark chocolate with salt flakes. ( I had in my fridge).
Adds a certain je ne sais quoi /delicious edge.

You need for 6  fashionista or 32 models:

100g blanched hazelnuts/walnuts (I used walnuts and I didn’t blanche them).
140g self-raising flour (I used wholemeal flour).
175g butter, cut into small pieces.
140g brown sugar (I used white sugar but brown would be better).
2 large eggs, beaten.
3 semi-ripe packham pears ( I used two big pears)
50g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks ( lindt dark chocolate with salt flakes).

•    Slip into Hermes jumpsuit.
•    Slip into Givenchy wedges.
•    Slip a wine or ten into your glass.
•    Preheat the oven to 140C for fan-forced (160C conventional).
•    Moisturise and line the base of a 25 x 11-centimetre loaf cake tin with baking paper. It’s pretty sticky so this is a must do.
•    Make sure the butter is soft and chopped into pieces as small as a Kardashian brain.
•    Peel and chop the pears into chunky pieces like your thighs (Not too small:  if the pears are too ripe because they will go all mushy).
•    Set aside a few bits of pear to arrange on the top at the end.
•    Whizz the nuts in a food processor until a little chunky like Birkenstocks.
•    The nuts will get more of a beating as you go so the don’t whizz them to oblivion.
•    Now toss the flour into the whizzer with the nuts and mix  briefly.
•    Add the butter and pulse the whizzer until it forms crumbs.
•    Add the sugar and eggs and mix briefly.
•    The mix is pretty sticky so now pour /plop the whole mixture into a bowl.
•    Then gently stir in the pears and the totes delicious chocolate into the mix.
•    Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Like a face mask.
•    Add the remaining pears and arrange on the top of the cake.
•    Press down lightly and bake for 50-60 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
•    I baked it for about an hour and ten minutes and it could have had more time.
•    Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack.
•    Dust with icing sugar.
•    Serve warm or cold.
•    With lashings of cream.
•    Divine