Diana's Desserts - www.dianasdesserts.com

Pear Coffee Cake Belle-Helene

in Diana's Recipe Book

Average Rating: 
(total ratings: 2)
[Read reviews] [Post a review]
Servings: 10
 
Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2-1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
4 small ripe Bartlett pears, peeled, cored and cut in half
1/3 cup pecan halves

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180 C). Beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add flour and sugar; beat on low speed until crumbly. Remove 1/3 cup of the butter mixture; set aside. Add baking powder, baking soda, chocolate, egg and milk to remaining butter mixture in bowl. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

2. Spread one-third of the batter into greased 9-inch springform pan. Place pear halves, cut sides down, in a circular pattern over batter. Drop spoonfuls of remaining batter over pears; spread to evenly cover pears. Sprinkle with the reserved crumb mixture and pecans.

3. Bake 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool.

Makes 10 servings.

Great Substitute
Substitute 2 cans (14 fl oz/398 mL each) pear halves in light syrup, well drained, for the fresh pears.

Healthy Living
This is an indulgence food for special occasions. To reduce the fat in this recipe, substitute margarine for butter, or reduce serving sizes.

Nutritional Information
Serving Size = 1/10th recipe
Calories 435
Total fat 24.3 g
Saturated fat 13 g
Cholesterol 64 mg
Sodium 233 mg
Carbohydrate 52.9 g
Dietary fibre 3.7 g
Protein 6.4 g
Calcium 6 %RDI
Iron 18 %RDI

Source: Kraft Foods Canada
Date: November 6, 2004

Reviews

Reviewer: Elijah Waid
Rating: 
Review:
I finally got around to making this cake, and it turned out great. The only thing is that with the recipe it is not in the least bit sweet. In fact, it borders on being called bitter. I suggest that if you plan to make this, use semi-sweet chocolate and at least another half cup of sugar, if not another whole cup. Aside from that, it's delicious.

 
Reviewer: Julia
Rating: 
Review:
I took the first reviewer's advice and used semi-sweet chocolate instead of unsweetened (I didn't change the amount of sugar, though). I also used canned pears in syrup, which may have added extra sweetness to the cake. My pecans burned, though. As a result, I took my cake out of the oven a bit too soon so my pecans would stop burning, and the center was underdone. Next time, I will sprinkle the pecans on before the crumb topping and push them down into the batter a bit.

 

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