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<\/a>When I told Keith that I was going to make a Pear & Chocolate Walnut Cake, his reaction was of utter disgust.\u00a0\u00a0I’ve always wanted to try combining pears and chocolate\u00a0in a dish;\u00a0 what a perfect time to do so because\u00a0I had a lot\u00a0of perfectly ripened pears from Tippy Top Orchard\u00a0that needed to be eaten up.\u00a0 After a quick search, I was enamored by Smitten Kitchen’s<\/a>\u00a0recipe for\u00a0Bittersweet Chocolate and Pear Cake<\/a> so I decided to make it with just a little twist.\u00a0 I added some toasted and coarsely chopped walnuts.\u00a0 The recipe calls for browned butter so I thought the addition of walnuts would further enhance\u00a0the nutty aroma as well as add a different layer of sweetness to the cake.<\/p>\n With a Dusting of Cocoa and Powdered Sugar<\/em><\/p>\n RECIPE\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Ingredients<\/em><\/p>\n Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.\u00a0 Take out 3\u00a0large eggs from the refrigerator\u00a0(I used 4 because mine were small) and set aside so it can get to room temperature.\u00a0 Butter and dust a 9 inch springform pan with flour.\u00a0 Toast the walnuts in a pan until warm and slightly more aromatic, coarsely chop and set aside.\u00a0 Brown the butter in a small saucepan.\u00a0 Watch and stir it ever so often to prevent it from burning.\u00a0 It should turn a nice golden brown and smell nutty.\u00a0 Set aside.\u00a0 Measure out the flour, baking powder, and salt.\u00a0 Peel and dice the pears.\u00a0 Now, whip the eggs with a mixer until it triples in size, it should have the consistency of whipped cream with a pale yellow color.\u00a0 Gradually add the sugar while mixing then the flour mixture, 1\/3 the amount at a time, then some of the butter.\u00a0 Alternate until everything is almost mixed in.\u00a0 Finish mixing with a spatula and gently fold the batter.<\/p>\n *Note:\u00a0 As you can see, my cake didn’t rise as much as it should have because I was impatient and dumped the entire amount of browned butter at once\u00a0while mixing the batter.\u00a0 Don’t do that. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Pour the batter into the cake pan then gently sprinkle the pears, walnuts, and chocolate chips on top of it.\u00a0 Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when you test it.\u00a0 Let it cool for a bit then dust with the cocoa and powdered sugar.\u00a0 (I made a little pear shaped cutout with a piece of construction paper and placed it on top of the cake before dusting with the powders for decoration.)<\/p>\n \n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/pearchocolatewalnutcake1.jpg\" "\\"pearchocolatewalnutcake\\"")
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Ingredients![\"\"](\"http:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/pearchocolatewalnutcakeingredients.jpg\" "\\"pearchocolatewalnutcakeingredients\\"")
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