Pear and Chocolate Pudding Pots

At last. My exams are over! Woop woop! I can safely say au revoir to A Levels and bonjour to university. Well, in September that is. For now it's back to blogging, cake making for the many birthdays that are coming up, and having a good old rest. The Summer awaits!! 

To celebrate the fact that my A-levels are all done now I've made these cute little pear and chocolate pudding pots. I love how a whole pear sits perfectly inside these teacups and then a generous amount of gooey, rich chocolate cake envelops it. 

It's so satisfying to just stick your spoon in and eat it straight from the oven, hot , still soft and sticky in the middle. They're so quick and easy to make as well. I had these done in under 25 minutes, ready to eat. They don't really need anything else either to go alongside it, just simply pear and chocolate is a match made in heaven for me. 
You could go experimental with this and try out some different fruits to bake in the pots, I was nearly tempted by a punnet of cherries - another chocolate combination that works equally well, and a rather retro one at that. 

This recipe requires very little quantities of ingredients so it could easily be doubled and be an impressive dessert to feed a dinner party crowd. The cake batter could be make a little ahead of time and at the last minute be spooned into the teacups for baking. This isn't like souffle mixture where they have to be made, baked and eaten straight away. (Although these are best served warm.)

Pear  and  Chocolate  Pudding  Pots

Makes 4 pots (depending on size of cup)

Ingredients:

75g  butter 75g caster sugar 2 eggs 20g  cocoa 75g self-raising flour ¼ tsp baking powder ½ tsp ground cinnamon 4 small pears 2 tsp runny honey icing sugar for dusting

Method

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4, 180ºC, fan 160ºC.
Lightly grease four ramekins or ovenproof teacups. Beat together the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth. Beat in the eggs vigorously. Add the cocoa and mix again.
Fold in flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Divide the mixture between the four greased ramekins/teacups.
Cut the bottom base off each pear so that it is flat and stable. Press a pear into the middle of each ramekin filled with the chocolate batter and bake in the oven for 16-18 minutes. Serve drizzled with a little honey and a dusting of icing sugar. Best eaten warm on the day of making.