Chocolate, Pear and Almond Pudding

Elle Vernon

Food Editor Better Homes & Gardens  

'This dessert is sweet and decadent, and made even more delicious due to its no fuss factor. You can whip it up in less that 10 minutes, and it can cook away whilst you sit back and enjoy your main meal'

Elle Vernon trained as a chef before merging into a career in Food Media working across a number of magazines and television shows. She is currently the Food Editor of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine and has been part of the Better Homes and Gardens team since 2008 where she worked as the shows food researcher for Fast Ed and Karen Martini. She was a presenter on Channel 7’s New Idea Test Kitchen, appears on Channel 7’s The Morning Show and regularly hosts cooking demonstrations in Sydney to encourage and inspire healthy, fuss-free family friendly cooking at home.

 

Ingredients

• ¾ cup milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 100g unsalted butter, chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 Tbsp dutch cocoa
• ½ cup almond meal
• 1 Beurre Bosc pear, halved, cored, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup flaked almonds
• 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• ¾ cup boiling water
• double cream, to serve
• ice-cream, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Put milk, egg and butter into a large bowl and whisk until combined. Whisk in vanilla and sugar. Sift flour, baking powder and ½ of the cocoa into a second bowl and stir in almond meal.
2. Gradually pour in milk mixture, stirring until a smooth batter forms. Spoon into EasySear slow cooker bowl.
3. Scatter pear over the top, then scatter over almonds.
4. Put brown sugar, boiling water and remaining cocoa into a medium jug and stir until combined.
5. Pour mixture over back of a large spoon onto batter.
6. Turn temperature control to high and slow cook, covered with lid, for 2 hours until cake is firm and sauce is thick.
7. Serve with double cream and ice-cream, if desired.