Dark chocolate pear and walnut bundt

I have been craving a pear and walnut chocolate cake, don't ask me why. The caveat was that I needed to use my bundt so after looking around, I settled on this recipe by Sugar Love & Spices for Ciambella dark choc, walnut and pear cake. (no video - I wish there was because I don't know if I'm doing it wrong!)

Ingredients

100g milk

60g dark chocolate, chopped

125g sugar

3 eggs

120g butter, room temp

135g flour

30g cocoa

Pinch of salt

¼ tsp cinnamon

Pinch of cardomon (optional but I had it)

4g (1 tsp) baking powder

70g walnut, toasted and chopped

1 pear, peeled and cubed

Method

1. Prepare the bundt tin by oiling and flouring or covering with goop. I took the extra step of sifting on cocoa powder.

1. In a small pot, heat the milk and sugar until dissolved. 

2. Add the chopped chocolate and mix until dissolved. Do not let the mixture boil. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Add the eggs one at a time and whisk to incorporate.

4. In a bowl, mix the dry powered ingredients: flour, cocoa, salt, cinnamon, cardomon, and baking powder. Mix well and set aside.

5. In a KA bowl, beat the butter until pale and fluffy. Scrape down.

6. Drizzle in the chocolate mixture at the side of the bowl slowly. Beat. The mixture will be clumpy and appear to seize up, do not panic.

7. Add the flour mixture 3 or 4 tbsp at a time and beat in at Speed 2. Once the flour has been mixed in, turn up to between Speed 4 to 6 but do not overbeat.

8. Fold in the chopped walnut and pear. The batter will be quite thick, like muffin mixture.

9. Spoon in the mixture and make sure to push the batter to the sides rather than near the funnel (otherwise the cake tends to peak in the centre). Bang the ban on a (protected) countertop to dispel air bubbles.

10. Bake for 180 deg C for 35 to 45 minutes. (mine took 34 because the oven temp was quite constant today but even then it was probably a bit over-cooked. 32 might have been enough)

11. Let the cake cool in the tin for at least 15 to 20 minutes. Then, put a serving plate tightly over the cake tin and invert. The cake should slide out easily if you prepared the tin correctly!

12. Store outside the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Recipe feedback

- This yields a smaller cake than the previous chocolate bundt. It is not sweet but feels very dry even fresh out of the oven.

- The liquid goop (microwaved till runny) dusted with cocoa was a good idea in terms of looks.

- The batter was more muffin-like so it was very holey compared to the previous cake. However, nothing a dusting of powdered sugar can't solve!

- The cake tastes best the next day when it's less crusty and dry straight out of the oven. It stayed moist up to 2 days after, kept at room temp. I put a cup of water in with the cake in the airtight box and it really helped the cake stay moist!