Some time ago, Michelle gave me a recipe for an easy pear, brandy and chocolate torte (thanks again, Michelle!).
This rich, dense dessert is a perfect way to use up leftover egg whites – in this case, the surplus from our shortbread cookie dough. Please excuse the slightly tragic arrangement of pears on top – I’ve always been a little design-challenged. I also baked the torte in a 25cm/10″ flan dish with a removable base rather than the smaller springform specified, so I probably should have used more fruit.
- 250g fresh pears (use tinned if fresh are not available)
- 4 tbsp brandy
- 25g cocoa powder (I used Dutched)
- 100g dark chocolate, preferably 70% cocoa, in pieces
- 50g unsalted butter
- 175g caster sugar
- 100ml hot water
- 4 large (59g) egg whites
- 85g plain (AP) flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
1. Peel and core the pears, cutting each pear in half. Place the pears and brandy in a small bowl and allow to steep for about 30 minutes until most of the brandy has been absorbed.
2. Preheat the oven to 190C/170C with fan. Grease a 23cm/9in loose-bottomed cake tin or springform tin. Put the cocoa, chocolate, butter, hot water and 140g of the sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk gently over a low heat until the mixture is smooth. Leave to cool slightly.
3. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then gradually whisk in the remaining 35g sugar. In a separate bowl, sift the flour and cinnamon together. Sprinkling in a little at a time, gently fold the flour into the egg whites with a metal spoon, until almost combined. Add the chocolate and fold in until evenly combined, being careful not to overwork the mix.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and arrange the pears over the top (they will sink into the torte during baking). Sprinkle over any remaining brandy and bake for about 40 minutes until just firm. Serve warm with a generous dollop of homemade vanilla icecream or, in our case, softly whipped vanilla cream (made by whipping a little vanilla syrup into heavy cream).
Click here for a printable version of this recipe
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
That is a seriously good looking torte! I love the idea of using up the eggwhites too. Yummo!
Becca, we love recipes that use up egg whites – there always seems to be some floating around this house! :)
YUM…!!!
Hmmm looks good to me … less pears means more room for chocolate flan ;-)
How strange is it that I was thisclose, earlier today, to posting a pear and chocolate dessert? I decided against it as I wasn’t entirely thrilled with the one I had in hand, and thought I should keep looking for something better that combined those two flavors. And look! Here it is.
I skipped the torte part the other night and went straight for the pears, chocolate sauce and icecream. Lovely combination of flavours… will have to slow down next time and try my hand at this torte, it’s so pretty. Where is the tragedy? I don’t see it. Oh I feel a Bee Gees moment coming on…..
Tragedy – when you lose control and you got no soul
it’s time to eat Torte…….
sorry about that, they’re coming to take me away soon….
Can I come too?
I love pears and chocolate. I have some pears sitting on my bench just waiting to be turned into this. Thanks.
ooh LOVELY – when i was young my mother had a great recipe that involved chocolate cake, pears (tinned were fine) and a crushed up mints (mint patties from memory) sprinkled on top. this looks more sophisticated! and always looking for ways to use up egg whites now that we are addicted to your frozen shortbread recipe!
I’ll have to try this one Celia, looks lovely. Thanks for the heads up on Amazon.
I have exactly four egg whites in my fridge leftover from making lemon curd. And a friend’s birthday in a few days.
As I had all the ingredients to hand, I just had to try this heavenly dessert. I have just taken it out of the oven and it looks and smells seriously delicious…!
I’m sure my guests tonight will be very impressed and I confess to having left a little bit extra in the bowl for licking…mmm…
Thankyou Celia for sharing this scrumptious recipe with your readers.
Yes! Gotta make this one, I bought pears last week, must have been for this ;)
It looks delicious, Celia. I will definitely make this when our pears are ripe!
Gill, you’re too funny, I wonder if the torte would work without pears at all? :)
Nancy, Joanna, Deb, my Pete is a big fan of pears and chocolate together. He saw the photo and went..”oh yum, can you make that again soon?” :)
Anne, so glad you like the shortbread recipe! This is a nice way to use up the eggwhites, but we also make homemade marshmallows with them, which are just wicked!
Meaghan love, please don’t blame me when your credit card bill comes. I’m in enough trouble already with my own…hahaha…but how often do we get free shipping from Amazon?
Bethany, I hope you enjoy this! :)
Mimi, thanks for trying it out so quickly! Hopefully Michelle will read this post – I think she’ll be chuffed that you’ve already made her recipe!
Anna, I’m sure you’ll do a better job with arranging the pears than I did! ;-)
Meg, how nice to have your own fruit trees! Our fledgling apples have had a rough year with pests, but we did get some pectin out of them!
I’m so glad you’re all enjoying this recipe, it’s certainly one of my favourites and it’s good to share recipes, thanks all! Happy baking!
Thanks again, Michelle! :)
Chocolate, alcohol and fruit, it could never go wrong could it!
Yum Celia!
This look delicious. Pears are one of the few fruits that everyone here will eat, even the fussiest eater. I’ll have to try this soon.
you gave me the loveliest idea ever! i’m going to prepare this for my best friend’s birthday on 1st march! she is going to love it! we ‘re going to savour it divinely as that happened with all your sweets we have prepared all this time!
as i posted to oz-kitchen butterfly today, i want to express again my thank to all of you and to you celia, for all the inspiration, love, happiness, creativity, culture lessons you convey through your food blogs!
i let you know for the outcome of the torte! :)
The combination of pears, brandy and chocolate seem… well, just perfect! Fabulous recipe Celia.
:-) Mandy
You’ve done it again Celia, another great recipe! x
An ideal recipe for using up the egg whites I seem to accumulate after making ice-cream. I keep promising myself that I am going to try making macarons, but so far I’ve chickened out, this looks far easier and probably tastier. I will be trying it very soon.
You’re being characteristically modest again Celia-the arrangement of the pears is just perfect!
I’m so tempted!
I have 3 chocolate yummies still in the house- Your chocolate sable cookies, chocolate cupcakes and orange peel dipped in dark chocolate- but there is room for one more- yes?!
I just have to find my conversion tables.
Thanks, Celia!
What a great torte. I must admit, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a torte (blushes…). But I’d really like to try this especially as you describe it as dense which is what I like with chocolate desserts. And the arrangement of the pears looks grand :)
Brydie, you’re so right, it’s a pretty magical combination! :)
Suelle, not a lot of butter in this one, so I’m hoping it will work for your new baking regime?
Gina, you’re always so kind, thank you! :)
Mandy, Yvette, thank you both, but credit goes totally to Michelle on this one, I didn’t change anything! :)
Jeannette, I haven’t tried macarons either – they’re on the list. I’m waiting until I eat one that actually blows me away before I try making my own! :)
Lorraine, you’re a darling, but let’s face it, the arrangement looks like I threw the pears in the air and let them land on the torte..hahaha
Heidi! Chocolate sables, I haven’t made them in ages. Now I want one! :)
Sukaina, thanks for stopping by! What a beautiful blog you have!
looks magnificent. chocolate and pear = yum
What a divine looking creation – and I just love the way the pear sinks that little bit, making the ideal spot for a fat dollop of cream!
This looks divine! and I didnt even notice the design of the pears until you mentioned it. I think it looks amazing! Perfect with cream and it looks so dense and moist. I also love pears so I will be making this one.
Thanks for the great post x
Wow this looks so beautiful. The torte looks so moist and perfect. I wish I could bake something like this :)
Perfect timing, Celia! I just got given a bag of pears yesterday and the 11yo made mousse on the weekend so we have a fridge full of eggwhites (her fave. mousse recipe uses only the yolks). I will definitely be baking this, thanks for the recipe! Not design challenged at all…lovely and artsy in it’s simplicity ;)
It looks so perfect. Yum!
I got some crumpet rings today so I can try out your crumpet recipe asap.
Your torte looks almost fudgey on the inside. I imagine that it is really moist. I find I’m using the 70% cocoa chocolate a lot more in my baking these day. It really seems to make a difference. I think I enjoy the intensity. It was lovely to indulge in your wickedly delicious post Celia.
I love the combination of flavours and the first photos is a great enticement!
David, Amanda, thank you!
Food Mentalist, thanks for stopping by! It was dense, but not overly heavy!
Tes, I’ve seen your blog, you can cook anything! :)
Chris, your kids are wonderful with their cooking. My boys are just sooo not interested. Although they always have an opinion on the food..hahaha
Claire, thank you – hope you enjoy the crumpets! :)
Mariana, Oz, thank you! :)
I made this last night to take to dinner with friends – it was DELICIOUS! I loved the texture and intensity of flavour – definitely liked the cinnamon, gave it different edge. this one is certainly a keeper – I also made shortbread so no egg wastage here! We found it quite light actually – moist but not heavy at all.
sadly, the girls won’t be happy with us today as we were out and there were no vegie peelings, so it is probably just as well they laid yesterday.
Anne, so glad you liked it! Isn’t it funny when you have your own chooks how precious the eggs become? I thought I’d take home grown eggs for granted, but it’s proven to be the opposite – I now can’t bear to waste even a bit of them! :)
It looks wonderful Celia – I love cooked pears and love chocolate, and the combination is fantastic so I can only imagine how good this must have tasted!
Thanks C! The chocolate and pears went really well together, and as Anne pointed out above, the cinnamon was an interesting addition!