Cooked pears, whipped cream, melted chocolate and soft shortcakes marry together to make these incredible Chocolate and Pear Shortcakes; a twist on the traditional shortcake and just as delicious!
Hiya everyone, I have one seriously delicious recipe for you today: Chocolate and Pear Shortcakes! I am obsessed with shortcakes and constantly coming up with different flavour combinations because why should shortcakes only be made with strawberries?!
I love chocolate and pear together, so I thought to myself, why not make the flavour combination into a shortcake?!
Let me tell you, I’m so glad I decided to make these shortcakes because they are sublime. Let’s get into how to make them!
Now, don’t be put off by the fact there are quite a few steps to making these. That may be the case, but they’re actually very easy to make and not something that needs to look perfect. If they look a little rustic, then they’re perfect.
To begin with, I made a rich, soft chocolate shortcake. I took my base shortcake recipe, which I’ve used for years, and tweaked it to make it chocolatey. I added cocoa powder, a bit more cream and a bit more sugar to balance the flavours and help make sure the cocoa powder didn’t make the shortcakes dry.
After that, you bake the shortcakes and let them cool, while you make the filling.
I sliced up 4 pears, placed them in a pan with sugar, water and cornflour and cooked them until the sauce was thick, caramelly and the pears were tender. I then let that cool whilst I made the sweetened whipped cream.
The final step is to melt some milk chocolate and place it into a small Ziploc bag. After that, it’s time to assemble these Chocolate and Pear Shortcakes!
To assemble you have to slice the shortcake, spoon on some sweetened whipped cream, add the sweet pears, drizzle some chocolate, place on the lid and finish off with another drizzle of chocolate before digging in!
My husband absolutely loved these Chocolate and Pear Shortcakes, he said they were his favourite yet! The chocolate shortcakes are rich, not overly sweet and so soft. The whipped cream is light and fluffy, the pears soft and tender and then melted milk chocolate? Well that’s the cherry on the top!
I really hope you get to make these Shortcakes and love them as much as we did!
Chocolate and Pear Shortcakes
Ingredients
- For the shortcakes:
- 2 1/4 cups (315g) plain/all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (50g) cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 5 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 stick (113g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) double/heavy cream, You may not need all of the cream, once you have added 3/4 cup, stir and then add the remaining 1/4 cup as required. I did need the whole cup of cream.
- For the filling and topping:
- 4 large pears, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
- 1/3 cup (66g) light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch
- 4-5 tbsp water
- 3/4 cup (180ml) double/heavy cream
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 3 oz (85g) milk chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F and line a baking tray with grease proof paper/a silicone sheet.
- Place the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, sugar and butter into a large bowl. Either use a pastry cutter, or your fingers to rub/cut the butter and flour mixture together. Cut the butter into the flour until you have a coarse breadcrumb texture.
- Add in the egg, vanilla extract and 3/4 cup of the cream. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together into one large lump. If the mixture is still too crumbly with 3/4 cup of cream, add in the remaining 1/4 cup, 1tbsp at a time until the mixture comes together.
- The dough should be a little sticky, but not overly wet. If it's a tiny bit crumbly, that's fine too. Divide the mixture into 8 lumps and roughly shape into balls. Place on your baking tray, leaving 2 inches space between each shortcake and gently flatten them slightly. They don't have to be perfect at all, a rough round shape is fine!
- Place in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until risen, the top looks matte in the light of the oven and they feel firm, but a little springy to the touch. Leave to cool completely on the baking tray.
- To make the pear filling: Place slices of pear, sugar, cornflour and 4tbsp of water into a medium sized pan, over a low heat. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, and continue to cook until the sauce is thick and the pears are soft and tender. If the mixture gets too thick before the pears are cooked, add in that extra tbsp of water.
- Leave the pear mixture to cool and then make the whipped cream: Place double/heavy cream and sugar into a medium sized bowl and whisk until somewhere between soft and stiff peak. You don't want the cream to be 100% firm, but light, fluffy and soft enough to spread, while being stiff enough to hold its shape.
- Place the milk chocolate into a heat proof bowl and place in the microwave in 20 second increments, stirring between each one, until the chocolate is melted. Pour the melted chocolate into a small Ziploc bag and squeeze it into one corner.
- To assemble the Chocolate and Pear Shortcakes: Take a shortcake, slice in half horizontally. Spoon around 1 1/2tbsp of the cream mixture onto the base of your shortcake and spread into an even layer.
- Spoon 1 1/2tbsp of the pear mixture on top of the cream. Take your Ziploc bag and snip the corner off where all the chocolate is. Drizzle chocolate over the pears. Place the lid of the shortcake on top of the pears and then finish off with another drizzle of chocolate, then dig in!
- Chocolate and Pear Shortcakes will keep, in their component parts, for 3 days. Once they're assembled, they should be eaten on the same day. Keep the shortcakes in an airtight container, at room temperature. Keep the cream and pears in a bowl covered with cling film, in the fridge. Don't melt the chocolate until you're ready to assemble.
Annie is a self-taught baker, recipe developer and food photographer, who has an obsession with dessert and beauty! 
