Dark Chocolate Pear Coffee Cake

It may be sunny in the Bay Area but this cake makes me want to snuggle up with a blanket. # 238: Dark Chocolate Pear Coffee Cake

This mini coffee cake has it all: the sweetness of a Bartlett pear alongside bitter dark chocolate surrounded by a soft, almond-y crumb.

I know that coffee cake is supposed to pear (hehe not sorry) with a hot drink, but it should also be able to stand alone. This recipe not only includes almond flour in the batter (which helps to retain moisture in the crumb) but also includes one of the soggiest baking fruits out there. That sounds negative, but pears are truly just juice in a fruit shape. They almost melt into the batter, adding a subtle sweetness.

Not the prettiest, but we’re going for substance over style here.

As usual, I cut the recipe down to a fraction of its normal size and whipped out my handy dandy mini springform pan. I also attempted to make a bundt pan version of this, but it refused to come out in one piece. Sigh.

If you’re going to do a smaller version of any cake recipe, I recommend using a hand mixer. Stand mixers are built for bigger quantities and laugh in the face of my mini cakes.

Why have one crumble layer when you could have TWO? One for the middle and one for the top.

The one for the top involved cocoa powder, and the one for the middle had dark chocolate shavings in it. Double yum.

And cinnamon! Because spices, pears and chocolate are so happy together.

My pear was borderline too ripe for the recipe but shhhh don’t tell anyone.

Ready, set, assemble!

A chunkier crumble for the middle with delightful hunks of dark chocolate.

Next up: pear slices! I really liked having a singular layer, but it could also be super delicious if you chop up the pear and mix it evenly through the batter.