My thoughts recently have been about Christmas, where will we be living, what style of house and how perfect our present home is for Christmas. I have viewed house after house, all far smaller than ours and with kitchens which frankly could never inspire me to get out there and bake!!!
 
I have been thinking back to last Christmas and how amazing the house looked and how amazing my table looked Christmas Day & on Boxing Day.
 
Boxing Day I had all my gorgeous children at home and around the table. My Son Simon I never see enough of now he has left home and when he is home I do like to spoil him and make him something amazing. On this occasion I took on the challenge of a Chocolate Pear Temptation, hard work it was, but well worth the effort for my lovely Son.
 
Buon appetito
(Photo’s taken Christmas 2009 – Clayton Cottage – you will see that mine didn’t come out as perfect as I would of liked, but hey, better luck next time and it did taste amazing)

For the cake
 
A little butter to grease
225g plain chocolate, roughly chopped
5 medium eggs, separated
150g caster sugar
125g unsalted butter, softened
4 tbsp orange-flavoured liqueur, such as Cointreau, I gave mine an Italian twist & used Marsala
Cocoa powder to dust
Cocoa-covered almonds & chocolate shavings to decorate
 
For the filling
 
142ml carton double cream
225g plain chocolate, chopped
4 medium eggs, separated
2 ripe, medium conference pears, I did use tinned as I love the sweetness & actually finding ripe pears is not that easy
 
It does take a while, hands-on time 1hr, plus cooling & cooking time is 1hr 20min, but it does look impressive and serves 12
 
Grease a 20.5cm (8in) springform cake tin and line the base and sides with non-stick parchment. Preheat the oven to 180c, 160c fan, gas mark 4.
 
To make the cake, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir the chocolate gently until smooth. Take off the heat and set aside.
 
Put the egg yolks and caster sugar into another heatproof bowl and sit it over the pan of simmering water. Using an electric hand whisk, beat for 3 min until the mixture is thick and creamy. Continue whisking, adding the softened butter a little at a time, until it’s all incorporated, then slowly whisk in the melted chocolate.
 
With clean whisks, beat the egg whites in a clean, grease-free bowl until the form soft peaks. Fold into the chocolate mixture with a large metal spoon, then pour into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 50min or until the cake is risen and the top beginning to crack. Leave to cool in the tin for 1hr (the cake will shrink slightly). Remove from the tin and slice in half horizontally. Don’t worry if it breaks up slightly as it will be covered by the mouse filling. Put the top piece, cut-side up, back in the tin and drizzle over half the liqueur.
 
To make the filling, lightly whip the cream and set aside. Melt the chocolate as before, let it cool slightly, the beat in the egg yolks with a wooden spoon. Fold in the whipped cream. With clean whisks, beat the egg whites in a clean, grease-free bowl until they form soft peaks, then fold into the chocolate mixture.
 
Peel, core and quarter the pears, and arrange them on top of the cake in the tin. Drizzle over the remaining liqueur. Spoon the mousse over the pears, spreading it right to the edge of the tin. Chill overnight, then press the remaining cake half on top of the mousse, cut-side down. Remove from tin, put on a serving plate and smooth the edges with a round-bladed knife.
 
Dust heavily with cocoa powder and decorate with cocoa-covered almonds and chocolate shavings. I used fudge pieces on mine as Simon loves fudge, plus a generous dusting of gold glitter. Serve at room temperature.
 
You can make this a head, follow recipe up to the end of step 6. Cover and chill for up to two days or wrap in clingfilm and freeze for up to one month. To serve, thaw overnight in the fridge if frozen. Decorate the cake and serve at room temperature.
 
Whilst typing this up I have come up with a plan to make this slightly differently using my chocolate fudge cake recipe and swapping the pears with raspberries, the pears are perfect for autumn/winter, but using raspberries would give it a lovely summer twist. If will let you know if it works.