Pear and White Wine Cake
·Peel the pears and start the poaching liquid
Peel the pears, cut them into quarters and cut out the core. In a large (a wide, shallow one works well), pot combine the wine, cane sugar and spices.
Add the vanilla and bring to a boil
Slice the vanilla pod lengthways in half, scrape out the seeds with the tip of a knife and add them to the wine. Add the rest of the pod too, so it can infuse further. Bring to a full boil until the sugar has dissolved.
Add the pears
Add the pears, lower the heat and simmer for about ten minutes. The pears should soften but not turn mushy. Lift the pears out of the wine syrup, leaving the spices in for now. Turn up the heat to reduce the liquid a little. This will thicken the syrup, which is exactly what we want.
Score the pears
While the wine is simmering, score all the pears. Lay each one on a chopping board, cut side (where the core was) facing down. Make cuts across the width of the pear, not too deep so you don't cut all the way through. Space the cuts close together, fairly tightly.
Whisk the eggs with sugar
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Add the flour mixed with the baking powder.
Mix the batter
Finally, stir in the cream and melted butter. Mix until you have a smooth batter. Fold in the grated chocolate at the end. Preheat your oven to 180 °C.
Pour the batter into the tin and arrange the pears
Grease a round cake tin with butter and dust with flour. Pour in the batter. Arrange the pears on top of the batter. If you have a few pear pieces left over, slice them and tuck them into any gaps in the batter.
Drizzle with the syrup
Bake for 30 minutes at 180 °C. Now it's time for the wine syrup. After reducing, you should have about 150–200 ml left. Remove the spices from it. Drizzle the syrup over the whole cake, then return it to the oven.
Finish baking
Finish baking at 200 °C for a further 10–15 minutes. The cake will turn a lovely golden colour, and the syrup will keep it wonderfully moist.
Serving
Here's a secret tip for you. If you want to take the cake to the next level, drizzle it with a little melted chocolate. Yum!
