Recipe: Chocolate Mousse Cake with Poached Pears and Creme Fraîche

Six stunning seasons of My Kitchen Rules have inspired home cooks to be a little more daring in the kitchen.

Over 100 of the best-loved, top-scoring recipes have been collected together in one gorgeous full colour volume, and we get to share some of them with you. Our favourite is this Chocolate Mousse Cake.

Preparation: 30 minutes, overnight refrigeration
Cooking Time: 1hr 40min
Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 340g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 5 eggs
• 340g caster sugar

POACHED PEARS

• 4 Beurre Bosc pears, peeled, cored and halved
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
• 100g brown sugar
• crème fraîche, to serve
• ½ teaspoon black salt, to garnish
• extra cocoa, for dusting
• mint leaves, to garnish

Method:
1.  Preheat the oven to 180°C. To prepare the pears, place in a small casserole dish and add the cinnamon, sugar and enough boiling water to cover the pears. Cover with foil and cook in the oven for about 40 minutes or until very tender. Remove the pears and set aside to cool. Refrigerate, covered, until required.

2.  To prepare the cake, preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease a 22cm round springform tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.

3.  Melt the chocolate and butter in a medium heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.

4.  Whisk together the eggs and sugar until pale and creamy. Fold half the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg and sugar mixture, then repeat with the remaining batch.

5.  Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Place in a roasting pan and add enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Cook in the centre of the oven for 55 minutes.
Remove the cake pan from the roasting dish, set aside to cool and refrigerate overnight.

6.  To serve, remove the outer ring of the pan and cut the cake into generous slices. Place each slice on a serving plate, spoon over a generous amount of crème fraîche and garnish with black salt.
Place a pear half beside each slice of cake, dust over a little cocoa and garnish with fresh mint.

For more fantastic recipes check out MKR: Best of the Best Cookbook from Hachette.