Chocolate Pear Pudding

The perfect dessert when you’re in a rush or need to feed a crowd. Relying on store cupboard ingredients and a bit of oven magic, this dessert needs less than 10 minutes of your time. All you have to do is open a tin and stir…

This is a very nostalgic dessert for me. Perhaps one of the first recipes my mum ever made from Nigella Lawson’s ‘Nigella Express’ recipe book, it is one we still come back to regularly. The beauty of it is simple; a warm, self saucing chocolate sponge pudding with hot, gentle tinned pears spread throughout that requires under 10 minutes of your time. You probably have most of the ingredients in your house already – perhaps just missing the tinned pears – so do like me and start keeping a few tins handy!

Even more than its delicious simplicity, the recipe is an absolute doddle. In true Nigella style it is a throw-it-all-in-a-bowl-and-mix-it kind of recipe. And, actually, if you have a food processor, the mixing work is done for you.

The key to getting this dessert spot on every time in my book is to undercook it vs the original Nigella recipe. I only cook mine for 20 minutes, and this ensures that I’m left with delicious hot batter all around the pears, making this a wonderful dessert of contrasts. I get a light and fluffy sponge with some crispy outer bits, piping hot juicy pears, and around it a sauce like batter with an intense chocolate flavour. It also makes the recipe incredibly forgiving to a little bit of over or under baking!

If I’m in the mood, I’ll sometimes go one further and actually make chocolate sauce to drizzle on top for an even more indulgent pudding. A little scoop of ice cream never goes amiss either…

Serves 6 – 8. Takes 10 minutes plus baking and cooling time.

Recipe adapted from: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-pear-pudding-102

Ingredients:

• 2 x 415g tins of pear halves in juices
• 125g plain flour
• 25g cocoa powder
• 100g caster sugar
• 25g light brown sugar
• 150g dairy free butter
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and lightly grease a 22cmx22cm oven proof dish with butter.
2. Drain the pears and arrange them cut side down over the base of the dish.
3. Place all remaining ingredients in a food processor or large bowl, and wiz or beat until smooth and fully incorporated.
4. Pour the batter over the pear halves evenly – smooth into the corners.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, until the top is baked, and the centre has just stopped wobbling.
6. Leave to stand at room temperature for 5 – 10 minutes before serving.
7. Serve with chocolate sauce (50g dark chocolate, 1tsp dairy free butter, 1 tsp non dairy milk and 1 tsp golden syrup melted together) or ice cream if wished.