Chocolate and Pear Cake

I've been stocking up on pears. They're my favourite winter fruit by far, and they will sit in our fruit bowl throughout the week while I slowly consume them (this is key since we now have a tiny apartment refrigerator - whatever can stay at room temperature, does).

Yesterday, I peeked into the fruit bowl to find three pears, a little too soft for my liking. With that in mind I headed over to Smitten Kitchen, where there is a great recipe index searchable by fruit, vegetable, season, food type, etc., etc. Under 'pear' there were tempting recipes, like pear and almond tart or the more recent roasted pear and chocolate chunk scones; in the end I went with the bittersweet chocolate and pear cake, which would utilize all three of my Anjou pears.

For the chocolate portion, I used a 60% Hispaniola bar from The Jones Chocolate Company, along with a bar of 64% Maralumi from Michel Cluizel. While the flavours worked well (especially the earthiness of the former), increasing the percentage of the chocolate to tone down the sweetness would have been a better choice.

The cake batter itself came together easily, though as others noted in the comments, the pieces of pear and chocolate didn't really become enveloped in the cake as they were meant to. Maybe a little less would have given the batter the additional room necessary. These things aside, the egg-y base provides a lovely canvas for the pear and chocolate, and we will happily enjoy as the snow falls.

I thought I'd include a few shots from Deep Freeze yesterday. We made it over with our friend Claire and had an incredible time. We enjoyed the perfect weather (as Sharon notes here, 2011 was freezing and last year's warm temperatures weren't any better), taking advantage of fire pits scattered throughout the site, skating and Bailey's poured through ice. Thanks again to the Arts on the Ave crew for another great year!

We ran into Tanya and Tom and Willow

The Village Pig

Smitten Kitchen's Whole Lemon Tart

While my mum committed to cooking a ham, scalloped potatoes and other necessary dishes for Easter dinner, I assured everyone that I would take care of dessert. I waffled between a few items - coconut cream tart, something chocolate-y, madeleines and ice cream. But crunched for time, I pulled up Smitten Kitchen's Whole Lemon Tart from a long list of bookmarked dessert recipes and got to work.

The base of the tart was 'The great unshrinkable sweet tart shell'. While it worked well and tasted great, I would definitely recommend rolling or at least using less of the dough. At 1am on Sunday morning the dough went into the tart shell right after processing. The resulting crust was a little too thick for my liking, and the edge of the tart became a bit of a shortbread cookie instead of a crust you could cut with a fork. As promised, though, the shell held its shape beautifully.

The lemon filling was easy to prepare. It took about 10 minutes on Sunday morning to slice the Meyer lemons, pick out the seeds and process everything for a minute or so until it was smooth. After 40 minutes or so in the oven, the tart came out to cool and was then chilled in the fridge until we were ready to go.

Everyone enjoyed the tart, particularly the extra punch of lemon. My only complaint was the texture of the filling. Unlike a silky lemon curd, I found the filling a little heavy and almost starchy. I'm guessing the texture would have been better had I allowed the butter and eggs to come to room temperature... So with a couple alterations, this tart is definitely on the list next time dessert is on order and time is short.

Because Smitten Kitchen knows: Pumpkin Cupcakes

I haven't carved a pumpkin in years, but today, in the spirit of Halloween, my friend Claire invited me to a pumpkin carving party. Whatever my contribution to the event would be, it had to be laced with pumpkin. And thus these Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting (that have been on my list for some time) would do perfectly.

As mentioned a couple posts ago, Deb's recipes are nearly always excellent. My only complaint here would be that the frosting wasn't really maple-y, but that's simply ratios that can be adjusted next time this one comes around. Whatever my thoughts, a dozen of these beauties were consumed by the time I ducked out for the evening, and I'll take that as sign of a successful recipe.

Once again - well done Smitten Kitchen, well done.

Because Smitten Kitchen Knows: Grape Focaccia with Rosemary

Although there may be countless steps and copious amounts of butter, it's generally easy to follow Deb's instructions with complete trust. She's never steered me wrong - from pumpkin cupcakes, to squash and caramelized onion galette, and now this focaccia.

I must have pulled the ultra tiny seeds from half a pound of Okanagan concord grapes (found at Sunterra) for about an hour. Thankfully this bread is seriously worth it. It's beautifully crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, and after baking the grapes become incredibly sweet. Some extra sugar and salt on the top provide a lovely sweet-salty contrast.

Best of all, this focaccia seems to freeze well. It's been excellent for quick lunches, along with some chèvre I've been keeping in the fridge at work. Needless to say, once concord grapes appear again next fall, this recipe will be on the list.