A Warming Pear, Cocoa Powder & Garam Masala Spice Cake

... plus my October round-up

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We are spending this week in Rome. A place I used to call home for a few years back in my late 20s. But also a place I haven’t visited in years and years. Most trips back to Italy seem to either take me further South for weddings and beach holidays or further North to Milan and its surroundings for work trips and weekend breaks. But we were looking for somewhere to go this week - a week shouldered by two bank holidays here in Belgium - and Rome fit the bill. A city both my husband and I know well so there is no pressure to do lots of sightseeing with a potentially cranky toddler and with a city center compact enough you can easily move around on foot / with a pram.  

I’m looking forward to being back in my old neighbourhood Monti, although I am sure a lot has changed. But maybe also not everything. Maybe my little neighbourhood bakery Antico Forno Ai Serpenti will still be there. Or Da Milvio, the Pizza Al Taglio place I often went to for lunch and where I discovered how delicious a freshly made pizza rossa filled with buffalo mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and anchovies could be and where at other times I practised my Italian by trying to order from the tavola calda at the back. And with temperatures promising to be in the low 20s (unseasonably warm even for November in Rome) I’m also planning to go back to Fatamorgana, my favourite gelateria in Rome, as well as Tazza D’Oro just around the corner of the Pantheon for their famous Granita al Caffè con Panna. But before I go and eat my weight in pasta, pizza, cornetti and gelati, here is a recipe for the kind of cake you would be hard pressed to find in Rome: a Warming Pear, Cocoa and Garam Masala Spice Cake.

Poire Belle Hélène is a staple dessert on many French restaurant menus for a reason. Because who could argue with the combination of sugar syrup poached pears with a chocolate syrup and maybe a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side? There is something truly irresistible about the earthiness and slight bitterness of dark chocolate when combined with buttery soft and sweet pears. And as I discovered via a Garam Masala studded chocolate bar I first came across at a bio shop back home in Germany, chocolate and garam masala are a match made in heaven as well. So when I was brainstorming recipes to try this fall it did not take me long to start sketching out ideas for a cake that combined pears, chocolate and garam masala. 

And this warming spice cake, deeply chocolatey (use the best cocoa powder you can afford - my favourite is Valrhona) with a plush crumb studded with cubes of buttery soft and sweet pears with lots of warming notes from the garam masala and a bit of a kick from some chopped stem ginger is what was the delicious end result of all that brainstorming and various rounds of recipe testing. Inspired by English sticky ginger cakes yet entirely its own thing. And while you can bake this cake as written you could also bake it as an upside down cake - by leaving the pears in quarters and neatly arranging them on the bottom of your springform cake tin before pouring over the cake batter. Either way works and both options are delicious. And now that the days are starting to get shorter and the temperatures are already dipping into the single digits, this Warming Pear, Cocoa and Garam Masala Spice Cake is the perfect thing to share with a friend over a cup of tea while hiding from the wind and rain. Delicious on its own, a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream on the side or a generous pour of single cream certainly would not hurt. 

But before we get to the recipe for this delicious cake, below is my October Round-Up. 

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October Round-Up 

Reading: I spent a week in San Francisco and Mountain View for work at the beginning of the month. It was admittedly a weird feeling to suddenly be childfree for a whole week and I definitely missed my little boy. But it was also really relaxing to fly on my own, to indulge in the inflight entertainment instead of keeping a toddler entertained and to actually find time to read Intermezzo by Sally Rooney, which I had specifically bought for my flight to San Francisco. On the way back I picked up Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach at the airport in San Francisco. Mary Roach is a new-to-me US author specialising in popular science and humour but her writing immediately appealed to me. It really is a mix of science and (my kind of) humour - both of which Mary skilfully applies to various topics otherwise taboo. On Substack I have really been enjoying Andrew Janigian’s posts - I always do, but his current series on enriched doughs is particularly insightful. 

Clam Chowder at Hog Island Oyster Co.

Eating / cooking / baking: October was full of delicious eats (both homemade and enjoyed elsewhere) - starting with the delicious pair of babkas my friend Zora and I baked up at a Babka workshop here in Brussels. The trip to California brought even more delicious baked goods (from Pumpkin Spice Breads to Black Sesame Kouign Amanns, Ube Cookies and the really special Mahlab Cake with a Vinegar Glaze from Loquat) but also warming bowls of Clam Chowder overlooking the San Francisco bay and delicious Peruvian seafood I shared with my colleague Dominique. Back home (and with more fall appropriate temperatures) I started leaning heavily into all things fall baking and cooking: we enjoyed a delicious baked kuri squash risotto, some miso butter hispi cabbage, I did my first batch of slowcooker poached quince to enjoy with my morning porridge but also for impromptu desserts and besides the multiple rounds of testing of this Warming Pear, Cocoa and Garam Masala Spice Cake we also enjoyed the Triple Buckwheat Cake with Apricot Miso Jam I shared the recipe for back in early October. 

Drinking: I spent most of October with a cold that refused to budge so have been drinking a lot of water and tea, plus all the fresh ginger and turmeric I could get my hands on. One day I randomly discovered Oye Ayaar - tiny bottles of concentrated ginger and turmeric shots which you can simply dilute with some water to your liking. It is sweetened with agave which I could do without but otherwise it is really delicious, packs a real punch and is so convenient when you are out and about. And my cold had probably already outstayed its welcome, but maybe it wasn’t all that coincidental that a few days after I started drinking Oye Ayaar my cold finally cleared up for good! 

What have you been enjoying reading, eating, cooking, baking or drinking? Let me know in the comments below!

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Pear, Cocoa and Garam Masala Spice Cake

Ingredients
125g brown rice syrup (or golden syrup)
125g light brown sugar
1 tbsp treacle
125g butter 
150ml milk
2 eggs
2 pieces of stem ginger, finely chopped (optional)
225g all purpose flour
30g cocoa powder
2 tbsp garam masala
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 medium sized pears, peeled, quartered, cored and cut into cubes (note, if baking the cake as an upside down cake make sure your pears are nice and firm and simply cut into quarters)

Directions 

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Celsius fan) and grease and line a round springform with parchment paper. 

In a medium saucepan, melt the brown rice syrup, brown sugar, treacle and butter and stir to combine. Turn off the heat and whisk in the milk. Check the temperature - if the mixture feels warm to the touch but not too hot, you can whisk in the eggs until the mixture is smooth. Otherwise, set aside to cool down until merely warm to the touch. Add the chopped stem ginger and whisk to distribute. 

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, garam masala, salt and baking soda. Pour over the wet ingredients and whisk until you have a smooth batter. Fold in the cubed pear.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and bake the cake for ca. 60 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Leave to fully cool in the tin before carefully inverting on to a wire rack and peeling off the parchment paper. Invert once more onto a serving plate.

Serve on its own, with whipped cream or a simple pouring custard.