VEGAN PEAR & DARK CHOCOLATE CAKE with HINT OF ORANGE
I guess I have become a pear lover … I have always liked pears, but not to the point I would have them in my fruit basket every single week of the winter months!! I haven’t been eating pears in years and just recently this fruit has become a staple in my recipes and is never missing in my kitchen (winter time only!): from cakes, to cookies, to overnight oats, to salads … or just simply cut in chunks and served with a sprinkle of cinnamon!
I’ve already shared a dark chocolate & pear cake recipe here, but today I’m going to offer a slightly different version: this cake is vegan, gluten-free, nut & soy free, paleo-friendly and has an extra orange twist that comes from our beloved DoTerra Orange Essential oil (plus some extra orange zest!).
Don’t worry if you don’t have the essential oil, you can just add some extra orange zest. What the oil does is giving the cake a bit stronger hint of orange, which I love and I think goes perfectly well with both pears and dark chocolate.
To my great surprise, I found this cake even better and richer in taste than the non-vegan one mentioned above … they’re both amazing, but this one is a bit moistier and more decadent, for chocolate lovers like me this is that kind of cake that you’ll never deny yourself a slice of! And it is SO LIGHT you could probably eat half of it and not even realize you just had a dark chocolate cake!!
It has become one of our most baked cakes in the house because it’s easy and quick to make and simply irresistible … I have already shared this recipe with a Russian friend of mine (who’s strictly vegan & loves baking) and she found it amazing, she already made it twice and sent me pictures … I’d say she totally nailed it (she’s a great vegan baker)!!
Grab some pears and your DoTerra Orange essential oil (if you have it) and I swear you’ll be making this cake over and over again! The ingredients below are for a small cake with about 4 servings (well, our servings are never too small, so it does depend on how big your serving is): I used a small 8” (20cm) pan so I would suggest doubling up the ingredients and using a larger pan if you’d like to make it for more people (or last longer!!).
Prep Time | 30 minutes |
Cook Time | 50 minutes |
Servings |
people
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- 1 medium Bartlett pear
- 140 g Gluten-free flour mix
- 30 g Gluten-free rolled oats coarsely blended
- 15 g cocoa powder sifted
- 2 g Bertolini baking powder or regular baking powder
- 2 g baking soda
- 2 g vanilla powder
- 40 g dark chocolate roughly chopped
- 3 tsp ground flax seeds + 50g water
- 160 g pure maple syrup
- 50 g Extra-virgin coconut oil
- 85 g hemp milk or other plant-based milk
- 1/2 organic orange zest grated
- 2 drops DoTerra Orange essential oil
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- Pinch of salt
Ingredients
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- Pre-heat oven to 350F and line an 8” spring pan with parchment paper.
- Cut the pear – skin on – into very thin slices (wash it very well if you keep the skin on, otherwise feel free to peel it). Set aside.
- Blend the oats until coarse – please do not use whole oats neither oat flour, for best results you would need to blend your oats coarsely.
- Mix together all of the dry ingredients (flour, cacao, baking soda, baking powder, oats, vanilla powder, salt).
- In a small bowl, mix together ground flax seeds and water, then place everything in the fridge to settle for at least 10 minutes – the flax seeds need to absorb all of the water and you should get a thick paste.
- In a separate bowl, mix together maple syrup, coconut oil (melted), hemp milk - warmed up (make sure it is warm otherwise it will solidify the coconut oil), apple cider vinegar, grated orange zest, orange essential oil and mix with a whisk.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients together then add the chocolate chunks, coarsely chopped.
- Pour the batter into the spring form, then add the pear slices on top all around the cake, slightly pushing them into the cake, but not pushing them completely in. Up to you how to decorate it!
- Bake for about 45-50 minutes.
- Serve warm or at room temperature with a side of vegan whipped cream or just with a cup of tea/coffee.