Mini Pear Cakes

INGREDIENTS

1 Litre water

150g sugar

1 teaspoon gingerbread spice mix (1ml all spice, ½ ml ground ginger, 1 small pinch ground cloves, 1 pinch ground nutmeg)

4 small pears, peeled and cored with stems retained

100g butter

¼ cup honey

Butter, for greasing

8 squares of chocolate

For the almond cream:

1 egg, separated

50g icing sugar

50g ground almonds

50ml thick fresh cream

METHOD

In a casserole, bring the water to a boil with the sugar and spice. Add the pears and poach for 20 minutes. Once poached, caramelise the pears in honey butter by combining 100g butter with ¼ cup honey. Keep aside for serving.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolk with the icing sugar, adding the almonds and then the cream. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks and fold into the mixture.

Grease 4 x Le Creuset 10cm Mini Cocottes with some butter. Add a spoonful of batter to each casserole. Then add two squares of chocolate into the centre of each casserole into the batter before dividing the remaining batter between the casseroles evenly.

Bake for 15 minutes until golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Top each pudding with a caramelised poached pear and serve warm.