Pear and Dark Chocolate Cake

I'm so close on the bathroom reveal.  Tomorrow.  Pinky swear.

Tonight, I'm going to share the recipe for one of Ross' favourite cakes.  It's pretty easy to make and the pears mean it's very moist and delicious!

Start by preheating the oven to 160°C/ 325°F.  Butter and line the base of your cake tin.

Put 100g/4oz of blanched hazelnuts in your food processor and grind them until they're pretty fine.

Add 140g (just under 1 cup) of self-raising flour and blend briefly.

 Add 6 oz. (12 tbsp.) of butter that has been cut up into small pieces and pulse until it forms crumbs.

Add 5 oz. (2/3 cup) of caster sugar...

and 2 eggs.  Mix just until it's blended.

Take 5 conference pears and peel, core, and dice them. Add the pear to the mix and blend by hand with a spoon or spatula.

 Take 2 oz. of dark chocolate.

 Put it in a baggie and whack it with a rolling pin until it's broken up into little bits.

 Add to the mix and stir it in- again by hand.

Spoon the mixture into your cake pan.  Put it in the oven and let it cook for about an hour.  It's done when a knife comes out of it cleanly.  Let it cool.

After you take it out of the oven, put 2 tbsp of apricot jam in a sauce pan and melt it to make a glaze.

 Brush the jam on top of the cake.

 And serve it up!  Yum!