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Pear and Chocolate Cupcakes





Ingredients

3 eggs, separated
2-3 pears
100 g sugar
100 g butter
150 g dark chocolate
1 shot of Rum or a drop of Vanilla essence
200 g self-rising flour



Usually I fold in the beaten egg whites at the end, but this time I wanted to experiment a bit, and also I wanted to coat some pear slices with meringue for decoration, so I started by whipping the egg whites. Coat a few pear slices with the egg white, then roll in sugar and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Then keep beating the egg whites and add the sugar, then the egg yolks. Melt the butter with 50 g of dark chocolate and add to the mixture. Then add the Rum (just a little, these cupcakes were for my kids also) or vanilla essence, and finally the self-rising flour. Fold in some pear cubes and divide between 12 cupcake cases.





Bake at 180°C for about 16 minutes, or until the cupcakes are cooked. Don't overbake them or they will become dry. Remove the cupcakes from the oven, lower the heat to 100°C and bake the meringue pear slices for 20 minutes, or until the meringue is set. Let them cool down in the oven. Melt the remaining 100 g of dark chocolate and spoon it over the cupcakes. Before the chocolate topping set decorate the cupcakes with the meringue pears and/or ...what you like! I used some Japanese chocolate mushrooms biscuits because they looked so cute!



Here with the pear topping

And here with the 'mushrooms'

Pears go very well with chocolate, and the 'reverse' mixing didn't seem to effect the end result really: the cupcakes were soft and light. Still, I think I do prefer to fold the beaten egg whites at the end, I will have to experiment more :-). The mushroom biscuits... I will use them again for decoration, a nice change from flowers, butterflies and the usual things you see on cupcakes, especially if you are making them for boys, as well as girls.


Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©




With this recipe I take part in the blogging event Sweet New Zealand #4
hosted by Mairi of Toast



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Comments

  1. Gloria BakerJuly 3, 2011 at 3:32 PM

    Alessandra look absolutely amazing and beauty! gloria

    ReplyDelete
  2. LeniaJuly 3, 2011 at 8:52 PM

    they are so beautiful and I am sure they are yummy too!!!Great presentation!Un bacione,carina!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cooking GalleryJuly 4, 2011 at 6:07 AM

    When I saw this post of yours some time ago, I already thought 'What a great idea!' :).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Priya SureshJuly 4, 2011 at 6:19 PM

    Those cupcakes looks super delicious,pretty and excellent..

    ReplyDelete
  5. aipiJuly 5, 2011 at 11:11 AM

    Looks so tasty, I know I won’t be able to stop eating these! ;)
    US Masala

    ReplyDelete
  6. Couscous & ConsciousnessDecember 6, 2011 at 10:26 PM

    These cupcakes look wonderful - I love the combination of pear and chocolate. Those little mushrooms are so cute too.
    Sue xo

    ReplyDelete

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