This moist, delicious Chocolate Pear Cake is made with fresh pears, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and cocoa powder. It’s generously coated with cinnamon sugar. It is finished with an easy two ingredient icing.
This chocolate and pear cake is made with roasted pureed pears. Pears add moisture and fresh flavor to the cocoa based cake. It’s coated with cinnamon sugar and drizzled with icing.
Apples are often the stars of fall baking. I wanted to create a cake where pears were the main ingredient. Pears are so good with chocolate!
If you’re looking for more fall treats, try my apple cider coffee cake, this upside down pear and peach cake, and my double chocolate zucchini bread.
WHY YOU WILL LOVE THIS RECIPE
- Pantry friendly: This recipe is easy to make. It’s also made with basic ingredients that you likely have n your pantry.
- Moist: Pureed pears add moisture in the same way applesauce does when used in cake recipes.
- Fresh and delicious: Pears have mild flavor and mild sweetness. Overall, they add a lovely fresh taste to this chocolate cake.
- Cinnamon sugar coating: This coating is absolutely delicious. It tastes similar to the coating on cinnamon or apple cider donuts!
INGREDIENTS
Below are some useful notes about some of the ingredients for this chocolate and pear cake. Please see recipe card below for full list of ingredients and their measurements.
- Fresh Pears: Use fresh, ripe or overripe pears. I have not made this cake with canned pears.
- Unsalted Butter: Use room temperature unsalted butter. This cake uses both butter and oil. Butter adds flavor and oil adds to the moisture of the cake. We will also use butter for the cinnamon sugar coating.
- Oil: Use canola or vegetable oil.
- Brown Sugar: Use light or dark brown sugar.
- Eggs: Use 3 large room temperature eggs.
- Buttermilk: Use room temperature buttermilk.
- Cocoa powder: Use Dutch processed or natural cocoa.
- Fall spices: Cinnamon and nutmeg add fall flavor. They are delicious with cocoa powder.
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Roast the pears. Peel, core and chop the pears. Toss them with some lemon juice and sugar. Spread them on a baking sheet. Once roasted, puree the pears and set them aside.
Step 2: Combine the dry ingredients. In a medium sized bowl, whisk to combine the dry ingredients. Set aside.
Step 3: Mix the wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugars with an electric mixer. Add the eggs, vanilla, buttermilk and pureed pears.
Step 4: Add the dry ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet then pour the batter into a well buttered bundt cake pan.
Step 5: Bake. Bake 53-57 minutes. Use a toothpick to check for doneness. You can also use your fingertip to gently press the top of the cake. If it springs back, it’s done!
Next, cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Then carefully invert onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
Step 6: Coat the cake with cinnamon sugar. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. Next, brush the cake with the melted butter. Scoop up some of the cinnamon sugar with your hands and press it into the cake.
Step 7: Make the icing. In a medium sized bowl, whisk the powdered sugar and milk together. Add a bit more if you want a thinner icing. Add less if you want the icing to be on the thick side.
Step 8: Ice the cake. Pour the icing into a cup and just drizzle it evenly over the top in a circular motion around the cake. The icing will naturally drip down along the sides.
Hint: Place your cake on a cake decorating turntable when coating it with cinnamon sugar. It’s not necessary but it makes it a little easier.
EXPERT TIPS
Tip #1: Grease your pan well! Bundt pans have a lot of little nooks and folds, so you want to make sure they’re all greased. Milk solids in butter can cause the cake to stick to the pan. Because of this, I switched to using melted shortening. You can also use a nonstick vegetable oil spray. Check out this this article How to Prevent Bundt Cake from Sticking from Handle the Heat.
Tip #2: Grease your pan right before using it. It’s best to wait til right when you’re ready to bake to grease your pan. If you grease it then let it sit, the grease could start to slide down the pan as it sits.
Tip #3: Use a cake decorating turntable to ice the cake. If you have a cake decorating turntable, place the cake on it to ice the cake. Spin the turntable around as you tilt the cup filled with icing overtop.
MORE RECIPES YOU WILL LOVE
Chocolate Pear Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 1 bundt cake
- Category: Cakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Chocolate Pear Cake is fluffy, moist and incredibly delicious. Made with roasted pureed pears, cocoa powder, and coated in butter and cinnamon sugar and topped with a simple icing.
Ingredients
CHOCOLATE PEAR CAKE
- 4 pears, peeled, cored, and chopped into slices (about 3 cups chopped)
- juice from half a lemon
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, light or dark, packed
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon Dutch processed or natural cocoa
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
CINNAMON SUGAR COATING*
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
ICING
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2–3 tablespoons milk (add milk one tablespoon of milk at a time until desired thickness achieved)**
Instructions
CHOCOLATE PEAR CAKE
- Preheat oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Generously butter and flour a 10 cup bundt pan. Toss the pears with the lemon juice and tablespoon of sugar. Spread the pears on the baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes. Allow to cool slightly then puree pears in a food processor or blender. Set aside. Reduce heat to 325 F.
- In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter, oil, and sugars until combined and creamy. Mix in the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla. With a spatula, stir in the buttermilk and pureed pear mixture followed by the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined.
- Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. Give the pan a sharp tap to reduce any air bubbles. Bake for 53 to 57 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean or only with a few crumbs when inserted in the center or until cake springs back to the touch. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes then carefully invert onto rack and allow to cool completely.
CINNAMON SUGAR COATING
- Stir together the cinnamon and sugar and set nearby the cake. Brush the butter allover the cooled cake. Use your hands to scoop some of the cinnamon sugar and press and rub it into the cake evenly.
ICING
- Stir together the powdered sugar and milk. Start with three teaspoons and gradually add more until you reach desired thickness.
Notes
*Reserve or mix together extra cinnamon sugar for decorating, if desired.
**If icing too thick, gradually add more milk. If it’s too thin, add more powdered sugar to thicken it.
Keywords: chocolate, bundt cake, pear, cake, fruit, fall, autumn
Adore pears! Mixed with chocolate-can only imagine how delicious this cake would taste!
★★★★★
Thanks! It’s even more delicious as you can imagine!!
Can I replace the buttermilk with plant based?
Hi Elizabeth, Unfortunately I haven’t made this cake with plant based milk, so I can’t say how it would turn out. Please let me know if you have any other questions. -Natalie