Ooey Gooey caramel and dark chocolate cake in one recipe? Yes, please! This dark chocolate pear cake is made with lots of chocolate. With both cocoa powder and melted dark chocolate and infused with pear puree to make this cake incredibly soft and moist.

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The ingredients you’ll need for Dark Chocolate Pear Cake:

The chocolate: I used an unsweetened non-alkalized coach powder for it’s strong chocolate flavor and a bag of dark chocolate chips with 70% cocoa. I use non-alkalized cocoa powder because it’s still retains all the flavor of the cocoa bean with a fraction of the fat. Whereas alkalized (or Dutch processed) cocoa powder, is chemically processed to remove the strong acidity of the cocoa bean.

Chocolate chips: Melting

Pears: I used bosc pears for this cake recipe. I used ripe pears as an applesauce replacement and close to ripe as the whole pear that I inserted in the batter.

All-purpose flour or pastry flour: You can either use a pastry flour or an unbleached all-purpose flour for this cake. A pastry flour is a low-protein flour designed to make baked goods lighter and more delicate.

Baking soda and baking powder: You’ll need a baking soda, powder or both the help make this dessert rise and expand.

Milk: Whole milk will add both moisture and flavor to your chocolate cake.

Eggs: A really stable cake needs eggs. Eggs help to stabilize and add structure to your cake. Meaning, no crumbly cake.

Sugar: Use a good granulated sugar for the cake and the caramel. The sugar works with the butter for a fluffy and sweet cake.

Butter: Unsalted better is the way to go for making baked goods such as cakes and caramel sauces.

Vanilla extract: Vanilla works wonders and all you need is a splash or two.

Salt: a dash of salt will bring out all these yummy flavors!

How to make plant-based or gluten-free Dark Chocolate Pear Cake:

Plant-based: This is a matter of swapping out a few ingredients such as the eggs, milk and butter for ingredients that are plant-based.

Butter substitute: You can replace the butter for melted coconut oil or canola oil using a 1:1 ratio.

Eggs: Eggs are typically used in baked goods for structure and stabilization. Without the eggs you will get a more fudgy kind of cake. And who doesn’t love fudgy?

Dairy: You can substitute the dairy with any unsweetened plant-based milk such as oat milk or almond milk with a 1:1 ratio.

How do you make caramel sauce?

Making a good caramel sauce is easy. You can use it in your coffee, on icecream and with baked goods. All it takes is the right ingredients and a watchful eye. All you need is sugar, water, butter, cream and vanilla.

You start by melting the sugar in a sauce pan with water and bringing it to a boil. And yes, you will need a candy thermometer. The goal temperature for this sugar is 338°. Anything over 350° will burn the sugar. Once you reach the desired temperature, add the butter and stir. Then remove from heat and slowly stir in the cream and vanilla. (Full recipe is below.)