Baking Adventure

I don't normally bake. I made a rice-pudding back in '06 which was alright. But after a incident around the same time (which included putting green food colouring in scones), I'm now normally just roped into baking excursions for my weighing and measuring capabilities. I am also very efficient at putting things back in the fridge.

However, over the last two weeks, I've been working as a personal assistant for a lovely friend and this has included a wee bit of cooking.

AND I'M INSPIRED.

A new era has dawned. It has finally happened. I'm cooking.

It begun last night. If you like chocolate, pears and cake, then this recipe is for you, by my reckoning.

Chocolate and Pear Cake

The first time I encountered this rather dishy baked good was when I visited me sis when she was living in France. Normally, they come out a bit flatter but for some reason, the one I made last night is a corker.

Monster Cake

The recipe is from a French website, so if you can read French (or navigate Google translate) you can find it here: http://cuisine.journaldesfemmes.com/recette/229768-gateau-poire-chocolat

But basically it's 200g of dark chocolate melted with 150g of butter mixed with 120g of sugar 3 eggs 130g of self-raising flour a tin of chopped up pears (and a tablespoon of baking powder for luck if you want the monster version) in a greased baking tin in pre-heated oven at 180c.

Got that?

It is also the first harvest time for blackberries in our little fruit and veg patch. So, we (meaning my mam) gently stewed some on the hob and made some fudge induced flapjack to go on the top.

Yum-fest

We also had it with Mackie's Ice-cream (the one made in Scotland, not a McFlurry).

The fudge-flapjack recipe:

-Fudge
-Flapjack

(Mam's secret recipe.)

But I bet she just stole from the BBC Good Food website.