We have some pears to use up, so I thought I’d try this poaching malarky that TV chefs tend to go on about.

The original BBC Good Food recipe has then dipped in chocolate, but in solidarity with Nigella Lawson we decided to do one of her cakes. Her Feast book has an excellent chapter called Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame and from it we found Quadruple Chocolate Loaf Cake (p272) with a syrup topping that looks perfect for the job!

It’s a liquid batter, quite like a brownie, and just like a brownie it took much longer to cook than the recipe stated, but eventually it came out looking amazing.

And then… we never got around to doing the poached pears… so… erm.. YAY CAKE!

Oh and it is damned good cake.