Prep Time:  20 minutes        |        Cook Time:  1 hour        |        Serves:  12

Ingredients

• 175g Moser Roth organic 71% dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• 175g Pure Valley butter, cubed
• 125g White Mill caster sugar
• 225g Oh So Natural Wholefoods almond flour
• 5 eggs, separated

Roasted pears:

• 6 small packham pears (approx. 750g)
• 40g Pure Valley butter
• 50g honey

Chocolate sauce:

• 100ml thickened cream
• 100g Moser Roth organic 71% dark chocolate, finely chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150°C. Grease and line a 22cm round, springform cake tin.
2. Place the chocolate and butter into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir until smooth then set aside to cool.
3. Place the cooled butter and chocolate into a large mixing bowl with the sugar, almond flour and egg yolks and stir to combine.
4. Place the egg whites into a separate bowl with a pinch of salt and whisk until stiff. Gently fold into the chocolate mixture, being careful not to knock too much air out.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack.
6. Turn oven to 180°C. Peel the pears, cut into halves and gently scoop out the core.
7. Place a heavy-based, ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat. Pan-fry the pears in butter until coloured on all sides. Drizzle honey on top and bake for 20 minutes or until tender and sticky. Set aside to cool.
8. For the chocolate sauce, heat the cream in a small saucepan until gently simmering. Turn off the heat, add the chocolate and leave to melt for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth.
9. Serve the cake with the cooled pears and a drizzle of hot chocolate sauce.

Optional  

You can use a melon baller to scoop out the pear cores.

The cake will keep for 3 or 4 days if well wrapped.