Chocolate & Pear Torte

Our friends Simon & Louisa came round for lunch today (accompanied by their super cute son Finn). Following on from my carrot cake post where I was using up some carrots I was given at work I also had some pears that needed using. I decided to opt for Jo Wheatley's Chocolate & Pear Torte from her 'Home Baking' book. You can find the recipe online here. I had considered this BBC Good Food flourless chocolate and pear cake and this BBC Good Food squidgy pear and hazelnut spread cake but I find Jo's recipes easy to follow and that they produce good results.

This torte will serve 8-10. You will need a 25cm springform or loose-bottomed cake tin that you have lightly greased.

Ingredients:

For the syrup:
250ml water
60g caster sugar
peel of half an orange

For the cake:
3 small dessert pears (peeled, cored & quartered - mine were very small so I used 4)
300g good-quality dark chocolate (roughly chopped)
250g unsalted butter
4 large eggs (separated)
100g caster sugar
200g ground almonds
Pinch of sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste

Method:
1) Preheat your oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Lightly grease your cake tin.
2) Put the water, caster sugar and orange peel in a saucepan and bring to the boil (stirring to dissolve the sugar). Add the pears, cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 5-10 minutes until just softened (this will depend on the ripeness of your pears).

3) After the pears have cooked, remove them from the saucepan using a slotted spoon. Leave them to cool. Continue to cook the poaching liquid (with the lid off) until has reduced by half and is thick and syrupy. Set aside.

4) Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir until smooth and remove from the heat.

5) Whisk the egg whites until they reach stiff peaks.

6) In a separate bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together until pale, light and fluffy. Using a metal spoon fold in the almonds, salt and vanilla (I was worried at this point as the mixture became very thick but don't worry - just try not to knock too much of the air out of it.)

7) Add a spoonful of the egg white mixture and beat it in to loosen the mixture, before carefully folding in the remaining whites. Then fold in the melted chocolate and butter.

8) Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and push the quartered pears into the batter in a circular shape (as mine were so small I made two circles - one on the outside and one in the middle.)

9) Bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for 25-35 minutes until it starts to come away from the sides of the tin (mine took a little big longer than this - about 45 minutes as although it was cooked around the outside it wasn't in the middle - it ended being a little bit over done on the edges though.)
10) Once cooked and removed from the oven, run a palette knife around the sides of the tin and remove from the ring from the tin (but not the base.) Leave the torte to cool completely on a rack. Once cool, chill for a minimum of 2 hours before sliding off the base onto a plate.

11) Brush with the reduce pear syrup and serve (with cream if you're feeling indulgent!)

Toffee Pecan Roulade

Christmas is a time for catching up with your favourite people which is just what we did yesterday afternoon. We went for a pre-Christmas lunch at our friends Simon and Louisa's yesterday and I offered to make dessert. After much trawling the Internet I decided upon a toffee pecan roulade. It's a popular dessert at this time of year - if you Google it you will find all the major supermarkets offer their own version.This is a recipe by Ruth Clemens that you can find on her Pink Whisk website here.

I've only ever made a roulade once before (this chocolate and cranberry one) so I'm not really an expert. I was in a bit of a rush yesterday and didn't have a big enough tin so it ended up as more of a flat rather than circular roulade. The meringue was also quite chewy - I don't think I cooked it for long enough. It did taste good though - you can't really go wrong with toffee and cream can you? I would definitely make this again and would highly recommend it for your Christmas festivities. A bonus is that it is also suitable for freezing.

Ingredients:

Meringue:
5 egg whites (large)
2 teaspoons cornflour
225g light muscavado sugar
40g pecans (chopped)

Filling:
250ml double cream
2 tablespoons icing sugar (plus extra for dusting)
1/2 tin Carnation Caramel

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 150C/130C (Fan)/Gas 2 and line a baking tray with shallow sides (approx. 25 x 36cm) with baking paper.
2) Put the egg whites in a clean bowl and add the cornflour.

3) Place the light muscovado sugar in a bowl and using a fork check there aren't any lumps. Chop the pecans ready to add to the meringue later. 

4) Begin to whisk the egg whites until they start to look foamy. Once they reach this stage keep whisking whilst adding the sugar one spoonful at a time until it is fully incorporated.

5) Keep whisking until the meringue is firm (you will need to be patient!) and you could hold it over your head without it falling out!

6) Gently fold the pecans into the meringue, until they are just worked through.

7) Spoon the meringue onto the lined tray and gently spread it out using a palette knife or spatula. Make sure it reached to all of the corners and is fairly flat (this is where I went wrong).

8) Bake it in the oven for 1 hour - 1 1/2 hours. You will need to keep checking it. It should not be sticky to the touch but should feel slightly squidgy. Once cooked take it out of the oven and leave it in its tin to cool completely. 

9) Whilst the meringue is cooling prepare your filling. Whip the double cream with two tablespoons of icing sugar until it reaches soft peaks. Put the caramel in a bowl and beat it with a spoon to loosen it.

10) Set out a large piece of  baking paper on your work surface and liberally dust it with icing sugar. 

11) Flip the cooled meringue onto the paper and carefully release the paper around the edges before peeling it away completely.

12) Spread the surface with the caramel followed be the whipped cream.

13) With a sharp knife cut through the meringue 2cm in from one end, all the way along. Fold this directly over the rest of the meringue. Take the edge of your baking paper and lift it to start rolling your roulade. Keep rolling it until you get to the end. 

14) Turn the roulade so that the seam is underneath and dust with icing sugar ready to serve.