Vegan Chocolate Pear Cake

We love this vegan chocolate pear cake. There is something wonderful about the combination of pears and chocolate. Sweet and juicy pears combine with the dark richness of chocolate to make this yummy loaf cake. 

Table of Contents

• Ingredient tips
• Serving 
• More vegan chocolate recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• Baking in the van

This vegan chocolate and pear cake is made with a dark chocolate sponge and three whole pears. It looks impressive, but is actually very simple to make!

I came up with this recipe at 6am on a Sunday morning – not my natural baking time. In fact I am very rarely awake at such a time.

Bleary eyed I searched for a recipe for an EASY vegan chocolate cake with whole pears, but couldn’t find one suitable. Either they had too many complicated ingredients, or you had to poach the pears in advance.

So I came up with this vegan chocolate pear cake recipe that is so simple, you can even make it when you are half asleep. Just like I did! 

The cake isn’t super sweet like some vegan cakes, instead it has a dark richness which contrasts beautifully with the sweetness of the pears.

We affectionately named this a peekaboo pear cake, because of the cute way the pears peek out. We hope you like it! 

Ingredient tips

Here’s a few tips for choosing your ingredients for this cake: 

Pears - Choose fruits that are just ripe but not overly soft for best results. Medium sized pears work well. Select three similar sized pears that fit well together in a loaf tin.

It’s alright if they touch each other, that way every slice has pear in. The cake in the photos has peeled pears, but sometimes if we’re in a hurry, or have organic pears, we skip peeling them! 

Cocoa powder  - We’re using European cocoa powder that is ‘dutched’ or alkalised, which means it is treated to reduce its natural acidity and bitter taste. 

Baking soda/bicarbonate of soda and vinegar - These act together to help the cake to rise. Instead of cider vinegar, you can use other types of vinegar such as wine vinegar, just don’t leave it out.

Instant coffee powder - This enhances the dark chocolate flavour of the cake, without making it taste like coffee. If you don’t have instant coffee, you could replace some of the hot water in the recipe with some brewed black coffee instead. 

Serving 

We love to have this cake as a teatime pick me up. It also goes down great at parties and events, as people are always intrigued by it’s unusual appearance.

As the recipe uses whole pears, you’ll want to just eat round the stalk and seeds. 

We’ve included an optional vegan chocolate sauce in the recipe which goes great with the cake, especially if you are serving it warm as a dessert. 

Leave it to cool in the tin for a while after taking it out of the oven, to make it easier to slice. 

Store leftovers in a cake tin for up to two days. Refrigerate in warm climates or for longer storage. 

More vegan chocolate recipes

We hope you enjoy this vegan chocolate pear cake! If you’re a chocolate lover like me, then you’ll want to check out our other yummy vegan chocolate recipes: 

This rich Vegan Sachertorte 

Our three ingredient No Bake Chocolate Cookies

And our easy Vegan Chocolate Pudding with crunchy hazelnuts on top

📖 Recipe

Baking in the van

We also make a version of this cake in our campervan, where we don't have an oven! The recipe is scaled down so that it fits in a pudding bowl and can be steamed in our pressure cooker.

If you ever find yourself without an oven you'll want to check out the Vegan Chocolate and Pear Pressure Cooker Cake recipe!